Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice
by Zira Angel
Summary: Sentinel has found the perfect femme. How can Sari be anything other than that? Written for the transformers kinkmeme. TFA
1. Chapter 1

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>Autobot Command was a different place with Optimus in charge of things. Optimus was the worst Magnus in the history of all Magnuses, all tender and kind to the wrong bots, with permissive policies that let all sorts of awful things go on. He'd quickly revoked all the necessary precautions that Sentinel had put into place, removing curfews and allowing places of collaboration to open up again. Sentinel knew that there were Decepticon sympathizers meeting in those filthy bars again, plotting ways to break Megatron out of the high-security lock-up.<p>

Alright, so they hadn't managed it in the past ten stellar cycles, but that didn't mean that they were safe.

Danger lurked everywhere. Decepticons and 'Con-sympathizers lurked everywhere.

Optimus Magnus didn't seem to give a frag about that.

Sentinel knew better. He makes sure to hang around and remind Optimus all the time. They won't get caught unawares if Sentinel keeps his optics open and watching for the threat.

Which is part of the reason he noticed a bot that is always sneaking around. Optimus is always telling him to leave her alone, but he needs to know why this little yellow femme is constantly wandering around the Autobot Headquarters. Why she's always darting away when she catches sight of him.

And why Optimus Magnus always seeming to _help_ her hide from him.

He had thought at first that she was just a product of his imagination, but she really isn't. Other bots have seen her, too. They don't know much about her other than she sometimes takes the spacebridge back and forth between here and... somewhere else. The ones that know, just give him a dirty look and tell him to get away from the spacebridge controls. They say it is nothing he needs to know, since he's no longer the Magnus, and _Optimus_ has ordered it to be completely secret.

It just makes him want to know all the more.

For all the ways he hates Optimus being Magnus, and Optimus in general, Sentinel does have to concede a few things about him. He's pretty fragging noble. He also is a complete and utter virgin. If it were not for those things, he'd think the femme was some kind of 'Con that Optimus kept as a berthwarmer. But she's obviously not.

He's seen enough of her to know that.

She's so tiny. So cute. And she's driving him crazy.

He wants to get her alone for just two kliks so he can get a designation out of her and maybe learn where she's living while she's here on Cybertron.

He can never find her when it is time to leave the headquarters, even if he'd been trailing her in the most covert ways. He learned to walk like a ninjabot for Primus's sake. Just so he could follow her around and know what he can call her. He hates just calling her 'the little yellow femme' when she's clearly so much more than that.

He hates how he likes her spark blue paint that glows when she looks happy. Hates how he wants nothing more than to be with her to _make_ that paint glow. Not even in an interfacing way, just to make her smile.

He'd like to know her well enough to _see_ her smile. She's always wearing her facemask. It would make sense if she was horribly damaged, like Wheeljack, and was hiding that. But he doesn't think she is, just that she doesn't want her face to be seen.

It had made him suspicious at first, but now... now all it does is make him want to convince her it is fine to have her face showing.

So he can maybe kiss it, if she's got a pretty face under there.

If she's horribly scarred . . . well, he'll figure that out if it happens.

There's just something so _familiar_ about her. He wants to get her name and - Primus, frag it all.

He's going to ask her out the next time he catches a glimpse of her. Even if he ends up humiliating himself doing it. He'll find her and ask her, and . . . frag. He never manages to get close enough to her to ask.

He shudders.

He's going to have to ask _Optimus_.

* * *

><p>He leans on the desk, watching as Optimus walks in. He raises an optic ridge, "You're late."<p>

The Magnus looks at him for a long moment, then sits down at the desk, pulling over a datapad, "You're here early, is there any reason you think you need to be here so soon? You could harass someone else. Cliffjumper, maybe? Cosmos? Cosmos sounds like a good bot for you to talk to, rather than you telling me that I'm late when I'm really not."

He glares, "You are late. Normally you get in a breem earlier than this. What kept you?"

The Magnus doesn't look up, "I was helping a friend with something. It took a little time to do it, but it is worth it. They will be glad to talk to their creator for a few sols before I need to pick them up."

He wonders if that means the yellow femme is gone again.

"I," he grits his denta, "I want to ask you a favor." Oh, this burns so fragging badly, to have to ask Optimus for this. "I want you to ask the yellow femme out on a date with me. Next sol."

The Magnus's optics go wide with shock, and he coughs, "I . . No." Then he turns away, "You can leave now, Sentinel Prime. You are dismissed."

Sentinel fumes, but he cannot ignore an order from his Magnus, even if that Magnus is Optimus. "Yes, sir." He leaves, scowl etched deep into his faceplates. Maybe the femme _was_ Optimus's berthbot. There was no other reason to deny him his request. Sentinel was quite the catch. Any femme would be lucky to have him.

He wants to punch the wall, but he has more self-control than that. More ability to keep hold of what he's doing than that. More...

He really wants to ask that pretty femme what she thinks of him. He could talk to her and see what she likes. He could buy her a fine high grade, and let her drink it. She would likely need even less than a scooterbot. She is so tiny.

Well, she could be a scooterbot. He could never tell what her altmode was, since she didn't even have any wheels. Maybe she has hoverpads instead, like Botanica in her botmode.

He goes to his desk, and sinks into his chair. He doesn't know what to do.

The little femme is driving him mad, and he doesn't even know her name. It's so fragging frustrating he wants to scream. Instead, he buries himself in datapads and reports, critiquing them, rejecting all but a few for being inadequate or not up to Autobot Command standards. It gives him something else to think about. Other than a pretty yellow mystery femme.

* * *

><p>She's there again. On Cybertron.<p>

Sentinel just saw her pass down one of the hallways. A hallway that he knows leads to a datapad storage room and nothing else.

He has her right where he wants her. She won't escape him this time. He'll find out who the frag she is.

He hurries into the datapads, looking through the the various rows of shelves, hurrying around it. She can't be anywhere far. She's small enough that she can't outpace him.

Even though she's done that several times before when he was trying to catch up to her.

He looks around, only to get lost in the stacks, unsure where he is. About a klik later, he gets back to near the door, only to see her ped disappear around the corner in the hallway.

He curses, and gets shushed by the bot at the desk.

He slams a servo down on the desk, staring the bot straight in the startled optics, "Who was that femme?"

The datapad bot blinks, and glances at the door, "You don't know? She's one of the Magnus's companions. She comes here often for datapads." The bot gets a shrewd look on his faceplates, "You know, if you don't know her designation, I'm not sure I should inform you of it. Perhaps it is supposed to be a private thing."

Sentinel hisses, "I outrank you, soldier. Tell me who she is."

The bot smiles, "I'm a civilian, sir. Datapad specialist. You're not in my line of command."

He glares, "I'm second in command on in this base, you will tell me."

The bot smiles wider, "And the datapad storage has me as an independent contractor. It says right in my contract that I don't really take orders from anyone here other than to keep the place safe. I'm under no obligation to tell you."

He does _not_ sink to his knees, even if he really really wants to. "Very well." He turns away, walking out of the room. He's going to find a copy of that mech's contract and see. If not, he's going to have that bot _fired_ for insubordination.

Almost a decade of chasing a femme with no clues makes a bot more than a little tired of all this happening.

Maybe he'll just start stalking Optimus.

If she's really one of his companions, and it's obvious she is, then she'll have to meet up with him some time. He can follow Optimus until he meets with the femme, and then pop out of the shadows and-probably get an axe to the face for his troubles.

Alright.

He can follow Optimus, learn the femme's name, and then research her so he can figure out where she lives. If he can't find any information on her, then she's obviously a 'Con, and he can drag her in for questioning.

And by questioning, he means he can finally ask her out on a date.

It is a sign of how low he's sunk that he can't find it in himself to care if she's a Decepticon as long as she doesn't try to pry information about the Autobots from him. Pit, if she wants that, she already has Optimus in her grasp, and they're all slagged anyway.

* * *

><p>He has no clue how it came to this. He really doesn't.<p>

He backs up a little more, getting pinned in the corner by the large green bot on Optimus's team, closely followed by the medic and the minibot. All three of them give him hatefilled looks, and the minibot pokes him in the chest, glaring up at him, "You will stop stalking Optimus. He's not interested in you at all."

Interested in- oh ugh, Primus. They think he wants Optimus? His faceplates twist with disgust, "No. Primus, no. I'm not interested in him." He brightens a bit. This is Optimus's team. If any of them know about the mystery femme, they will. But how to go about asking? He gives them a sly look, "I'm just keeping an optic out for him, you know? Being the Magnus is a dangerous job, and Optimus Magnus keeps rejecting any guards. I worry about him, and his friends. You bots. That little yellow femme."

If anything, they get _more_ hostile at the mention of her. The medic snarls as the other two bristle. He's shoved into the wall by the medic, his immobilizing weaponry pointed right in his face, "You stay the frag away from her. You're a fragger and would only hurt her if she _did_ say yes. You _sicken_ us."

She is so lovely, he really can't find it in him to heed any threat they give him. He really does not care what they think, other than how much more _difficult_ this will make it.

He looks at the medic through the little hole in the weapon pointed at him, "... Would she say yes? I mean, I'd like to know if I have a cha-"

"_No_." The large green one shoves his shoulder, "You're not going to ask her, and she'd refuse anyway. You leave her alone."

"I see no harm in letting me ask her," Sentinel points out, and then makes a strangled sound as the minibot shoves a stinger against his sparkplates.

"You lay one fragging finger on her and I'll make you regret it."

He was going to get that bot courtmarshalled for assaulting and threatening a superior officer. He was going to get them all courtmarshalled for this. But for now, his goal was getting that femme's name. "I think that's up to her to decide. She'll want to talk to me, if you let her have the chance."

The green one and the minibot - he _thinks_ their names are Bulkhead and Bumblebee, but he had so many bots he was training for the army, he has no clue - exchange a look, and Bumblebee laughs, a large and loud sound that shakes his frame since it comes from such a large mech, his green arm hitting the wall as he laughs, "You... you think she'd want to talk to _you_? Of all bots?"

The minibot, Bulkhead, glares at him, "No."

He frowns at them, "You don't know that. You are just being far too overprotective. She could want me. You are just making her decision for her, and she is her own bot. She can-"

The medic pushes his weapons in his face, "Like frag she will. Stay away from her."

Sentinel falls silent, narrowing his optics at them. He'll get them for this. Make them regret humiliating him this way. They won't get away with it. Not at all. And he's not going to give up on the yellow femme.

Not until she tells him to frag off on her own.

He'll listen to her, not to these afts.

They eventually let him go, apparently deciding that he's agreed to their terms, which he has not. They walk away with a few more threats and warnings, and Sentinel watches them, servos trembling with rage.

* * *

><p>He is not exactly happy right now. He hasn't seen any sign of that yellow femme for the last two decacycles. He stopped following Optimus, since that seems to only bring ire down on him. The three teammates of Optimus somehow got off scotfree for what they did to him. He is not the least bit pleased about it. Even when he was Magnus, he didn't use his power to keep other bots from being punished for threatening someone.<p>

If anything, he was harsher in his punishments. That sort of thing just wasn't allowed. Nothing like that would have gotten ignored.

So he's currently sitting at his desk, working on his datapads. His boring, boring datapads.

He vents a longsuffering sigh and sends another pad into the rejected pile. None of the bots here know how to write a simple, accurate report. He could ask them to file a simple report on their work at their desk for the sol, and they'd send him some long, rambling thing about datafile 17 and how it had eluded them for three megacycles only to be found in the recyclebin on their console. All he wanted was a list of what they'd accomplished that sol. Nothing else.

It should have been easy. He'd explained it to all of them. Three times. With slides.

He groans, wanting to put his head on his desk, but knowing better. He taps on the datapad, going through it all, and hating how it just wastes his time. Then, something amazing happens.

The lovely little yellow femme shows up, walking right next to his desk. Not even thinking, he reaches over, and picks her up. Setting her so she's sitting on his desk, he stares at her.

Primus... she's so tiny. She's delicate and dainty, little servos and peds with long legs with a skirt and tiny faux wings on her back. He would like to rub her side, but he contains himself.

She blinks at him for a moment then says, "... Hi. So I was told that you were looking for me?"

"I was." He smiles charmingly at her, "And it appears that I have found you. Or you have found me."

She blinks again, and then frowns, "If you're going to get upset about me being here, you shouldn't bother Optimus about it. It's totally legal. I've got permission to be on Cybertron and everything."

He feels his spark sink a bit. She _was_ a Decepticon. Or an ex-'Con, since she has no faction symbol on her. He'd never thought he'd be dating a Decepticon, but . . . well, things change. She's entirely too cute to pass up on. Maybe she was a spy all along, some bot so deep undercover that even he was never notified of her. A mech can hope.

"That was not my concern, no." Sentinel rests a servo on the desk beside her, daring to brush her thigh armor with one finger, making it seem like an accident. "I was hoping you would agree to accompany me to a play this evening." Elita had always loved plays. Most femmes did.

She blinks at him, putting her delicate little servo to her face, "Are... are you asking me _out_?"

He nods, "I was hoping that you'd be willing to-"

She looks away, "You... you really don't want to date me." She tilts her head, and her optics move in a way that implies an apologetic smile, "No one here will want to date me." She laughs, slightly bitterly, "No one at home wants to date me, either." She very cautiously pats his servo, her little fingers warm against his, "I know you, of _all_ bots, would want me the very least. You should give up on it, okay? I mean, you just don't like me. You really don't."

Oh, Primus, she really _is_ a 'Con. He can't think of any other reason she would say this sort of thing, but... he... he really can't bring himself to care. He's been chasing her for so long, the idea of just... giving up now is unthinkable. "Please? I'd love it if you would come with me."

"Look," she sighs, the sound long and mournful, "if you knew what I was hiding, you'd-"

"I know," he interrupts her. "I know your secret. Why you keep taking the spacebridge. Why you hide from most of the bots here." She was a 'Con, but . . he can handle that. He'd get her enrolled in some of the Cybertronian citizenship classes. She'd get to read lots of Autobot propaganda and it would help her transition into her new life here. He would help her. "I don't mind. And I won't tell anyone else."

She stares at him. "You . . . frag." She looks away, "I'm gonna regret this. Fine. I'll go out with you. This one time."

He grins, wide and excited, "Really?"

She huddles in on herself, wrapping her arms around her lovely frame, "Don't... don't make me regret it, okay? I'm only doing this because you know, and seem to accept it." She offlines her optics, looking hurt and broken, "If you're only doing this to... humiliate me. Please don't. You don't need to do that. Optimus and them will just get angry, and it won't be worth it. It really-"

He touches her side, "I am not going to just humiliate you because of what you are. You are safe from any humiliation while I'm with you. If anyone tries, I will keep you safe from it. Think of me as... your knight in shining armor." He grins at her, dente shining, "I will keep you safe."

She looks down, and he can almost imagine her blush - making him wish, again, that she wasn't wearing that facemask - "If... if you say so. I don't really need _more_ bots to protect me. Optimus and them are more than enough." She looks up at him from under her helmet, "Or maybe not enough. _You_ still figured out what I am."

"It's alright. I doubt anyone else knows the signs. They wouldn't know what to look for." The bots here were so lax about Decepticons. Half of them wouldn't recognize a 'Con even if the bot stood right in front of them with neon lights around their brand. Flashing neon lights. "I'm sure no one else knows about it."

She rubs one of her arms absently, "I hope not. Bots don't react well when they find out. I didn't think that _you_ of all bots would take this so . . . easy. It's hard to believe you're not trying to pull a trick on me."

Sentinel puts a servo over his sparkplates, "I swear to Primus himself that I am not trying to upset you."

She looks at him shyly, "Okay." She stands up, pressing a servo to the one on his chest, "Can you put me back on the floor?"

He smiles, "In a klik. I need your frequency, and... I'd like your designation."

She tilts her head, "I'm Sari." Her frequency is beamed to him, and then she puts a servo to his again, "I should let you work. I just run datapads around to where they should go, so what I do isn't that important. Not like yours, Mr. Second In Command Of The Autobots."

He smiles, glad that _someone_ finally realizes how hard he works. "I'm sure that your work is just as important." He sets her gently on the floor, holding her waist. He'd like to rub her lovely little frame, but he stops himself. "The play is this evening, would you like me to pick you up after work?"

"Yeah." Her tone is surprisingly shy and timid for a femme. They're usually more assertive. "I'd like that." She rushes towards the door, "I'll come by your office. You get off the same time as Optimus, right?"

He nods. "I do."

She shifts awkwardly on her peds, "I don't think we should tell Optimus or the others about this. I really don't think they'll react well at all, okay? We can talk to them. . . later. Like, next vorn." She doesn't wait for his reply before scurrying away.

Sentinel stares after her and sighs, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Sari. What a-he frowns-what a familiar name. He's heard it somewhere before.

Optimus must have mentioned it at some point.

* * *

><p>He sits in his office, normally he ignores it since he's more likely to get things done if he's in the open desk, where everyone can put their datapads for him to look over and not worry about interrupting him. But now.. well, he does want to be there for Sari.<p>

She comes in about a breem after work ends, and closes the door quietly behind her. She looks up at him with bright and mischievous optics. "Hi!" She walks over to him, reaching up, as if to be picked up, so he does.

She giggles happily, as he smiles and says, "Hello. Did Optimus or the others give you any trouble?"

She shakes her head, "No. Not at all. I told them each that I was going to get a ride with someone else, and never told them it was you. We have all night, and I can just have you drop me off at home." She gives him a cautious look, "Right?"

He nods, "Exactly." He walks to the door, holding her carefully in his arms, "I was thinking you may want to get polished up before we go. I need to as well."

She glances down at herself, and then shrugs, "Yeah, I guess so. How nice is the place we're going to?"

Nice enough that he'd had to trade in a massive amount of credits to get tickets for a showing that night. And he'd had to rely on his rank, which he always disliked. "It is nice enough that if we show up without polish, they will not allow us inside."

His only regret was not being able to secure a private booth for them. They were going to have to sit in the middle of the crowd, and countless bots would be watching them, meaning that he'd be lucky to get further than holding her servo that night.

She tilts her head, "How cold will it be?"

Oh... he hadn't even thought about that. With a frame so tiny, she would easily get far too cold. "I'm not sure how you will do it. I am fine there, but you're..." He trails off, unhappy with himself.

She reaches into her subspace, pulling out a tiny but beautiful cloak, "Can I wear this?"

He steps out of his office, feeling better, "Yes. Would you like me to wear mine so that we halfway match? It would be better if we do."

She nods, putting the cloak back in subspace and leaning on him, "I think I'd like that." She nuzzles him, tiny engine purring happily against his plating. "I'd... I'd like that a lot."

"Then we shall wear cloaks to the play. But first, we should get polished." He sets her on the counter in the office washrack-only a half wash-rack, really. It has a sink and several mirrors, but no solvent sprays. He turns on the faucet, and soaks a cloth in the solvents, giving himself a quick wipe-down. It's not entirely appropriate, doing this with another bot in the room, but they don't have enough time to take turns. Not if they want to be allowed into the play on time.

She cleans herself up as well, doing a better job of it than he does, and puts her cloak on, cuddling into it. She looks over at him just as he pulls out his cloak, and her optics brighten as it gets fastened on, "You have yellow trim!"

Elita had gotten it for him, having wanted to show everyone who he belonged to. He never had the spark to throw it out or let it get into disrepair. He's glad he took such great care of it if it means that Sari is excited to see it. "I do." He holds out his arms, and she lets him pick her up, "Shall we go?"

She leans on him, "Yeah." She touches his shoulder, "I'm glad that you have an altmode with seats. You can carry me."

"I suppose you can fit inside, if you insist on riding in there," the idea of it still . . bothers him. More than he'll admit to the femme. It's weakness, and he won't admit to that weakness. She should ride in his truckbed like a normal bot, but . . . Perhaps she is testing him.

She knows he's aware that she is or was a Decepticon. If he really isn't bothered by it, he'll let her inside, where it would be so very easy for her to slag him up, ripping through his thinner internal plating to destroy him.

She beams, "Good. Optimus and them always make me feel safer in them than any other bot since they have seats and seatbelts."

If _Optimus_ lets her do this, like slag is he going to not let her. He's just as good or _better_ than Optimus could ever be. He _is_ better. Optimus could have never been able to lead Cybertron during wartime. It is _easy_ to do it during peace, but the moment a bot needs to worry about 'Cons, it is no longer something that can just be ignored.

He folds down when they get outside and he lets her climb inside him, and slag, it feels weird. Like there's something stuck in his gears that he needs to push out. How can Optimus stand this? Sentinel feels a minute shudder run down his frame, but he pushed past it. He would pass this test of hers. Sari would realize what a catch he was and agree to keep dating him.

He slowly drives down the streets, carrying her towards the theater. "I'm not sure if you'll like the play, but I've been told that the actors are excellent."

She rubs her servo on his seats, "I'm willing to try it. I mean, I don't mind most things."

He flicks his windshield wipers in agreement, "I'm glad." He goes a little faster, "I am sorry to say that I could not get a private box, we will be in with the rest of the crowd. You don't mind, do you?"

She shakes her head, fingers dragging along his dashboard in the most wonderfully spark tingling way, "I'm fine with that. Are we going to be in the same chair, or are there one for each of us?"

"One for each. You will not need to worry about how I am holding you."

It would be scandalous for him to hold her in his lap. He will hold her servo if she allows it. He gasps as her servos suddenly squeeze the strange wheel inside of him.

"What are you doing?" he wiggles it out of her reach, and she laughs, shifting forward to grab it again.

"Calm down. I'm not going to drive you. I just want to feel you. You're different inside than Optimus is." The warm servos slide along the wheel, squeezing it again.

He almost drives off the road at the onrush of pleasure. He possibly should have paid more attention to what he had there, rather than ignoring it. That would have given him some warning about what is going on.

She rubs him a little harder, "You're really sensitive." His spark heats with lust, but she pulls away. "You really are. I can ..." She looks down, not saying more.

He wonders what she was going to say, but he has a small fear that it was about his spark. As much as he'd like her to touch it at some point, it is not something that a bot talks about on the very first date. He's glad she's learned that. Most Decepticons wouldn't care.

They drive in silence to the play, and he opens his door, waiting for her to get out. There are . . . a few reporterbots nearby, interviewing one of the actors, and he slips on his cloak, waiting for Sari to do the same before he picks her up and carries her towards then entrance quickly. He does not want to be found out.

He's not ashamed of dating Sari, Decepticon, but . . he knows it will end badly if they get caught so soon and Optimus and his team discover their relationship.

He hands over the tickets and is led to where they will be sitting. He's thankful that the mech says nothing as he sets Sari in the more comfortable looking of the chairs, and sits next to her. When the usherbot leaves, he looks at her with dim optics, "The play will be starting in a klik."

She nods, pushing at the armrest between them, and making a pleased sound as it goes up. She tugs him a bit closer to her chair, "I look forward to it."

He loves that she is so willing to be with him. So eager for him.

Optimus must have known she liked him, and his team must have kept her away out of dislike for him. They knew their little femme would fall for him. They likely worried that he would be upset by her Decepticon past. He's . . surprisingly not. She was a 'Con, but she is obviously not now. Perhaps she is striving to be a neutral. With his help, she'll be an Autobot.

He puts a servo next to her, resting it on the seat so that she can cuddle against him and to keep her from prying optics. He sees how the various bots look at her, and he is not happy about it. They want to know who she is, but he knows that she's been kept hidden.

He spent about ten decacycles chasing her down just to get this far. It doesn't matter that he was working through how much he dislikes Decepticons just to force himself to accept her. He likes her, and has no interest in sharing. Well, of sharing unless that's what she wants.

He's clearly going to have to stop disliking Optimus and his team. But... He glances down at her, and his expression softens. It will be worth it as long as he has her.

Besides, he can still think they're all slaggers. He just can't let any of it show, or it'll undoubtedly upset Sari. And he doesn't want that at all.

The play starts, and he turns his attention to it, but part of him stays focused on Sari. He lets his servo inch slowly towards hers, until it finally makes contact about a breem in. She curls her fingers around his, and he smiles to himself, giving her servo a gentle squeeze. He's not going to push his luck and try teasing her fingers with his on the first date. Sentinel is a _gentlemech_. He would never do such things.

The play is an old one that has been translated into common Cybertronion. A classic tale that everyone knows and grew up on. He choose it because it was so very harmless. He didn't want to get something to scare her away. It is just a romance story about a mech and a femme that had to overcome adversity to be together. There is no mention of faction, and the actors even have their Autobot symbols carefully hidden through the entire play.

He had that sort of behavior stopped when he was Magnus, since it needed a strong Autobot showing to make bots realize how they needed to be solidified in their unity. But... he supposes it is better to keep the lack of factions in it now, especially since he doesn't want to have Sari think he's only doing this to force her into giving away her secrets to everyone.

He is a bit worried, of course. There's only so much he can do to stop bots from investigating Sari's past, and if she has obvious ties to the Decepticons, she will be found out eventually. He hopes it takes the media bots a vorn or so to figure it out, because he can have her deeply entrenched in an Autobot way of life by then. Then it won't matter if bots claim she's a traitor-well, it will, and it will sting his pride terribly, and hurt her as well-but they won't be able to demand that he stop being with her. If they were to find out now . . . well, the second in line to becoming Magnus is not generally allowed to interfac-to . . ahem. . . engage in a relationship with a Decepticon. Not even an ex-Decepticon.

He smiles when she sighs and curls against him, fingers still holding his servo. He thinks he could get used to this. To her just... being with him. She's a tiny warm weight on him that just makes his spark warm at the thought of her. He's glad that he finally _really_ found her.

When the play ends, she looks up at him, and he can see her optics crinkle in a happy smile. "That was fun."

He gently picks her up, carrying her carefully, and starts to walk out, "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was thinking that we'd go to the Nuts and Bolts for energon. It is an energon shop that-"

She shakes her head, "No. No energon. It just... it isn't..."

Oh... she has an energon allergy. That is incredibly unfortunate. Oh, Primus. She's likely been transwarping to other planets to look for crystals or things that have fuel that she can eat. No wonder she's been using the spacebridge a lot. "I can just take you home?" The additive that could be mixed with energon to make it edible for such bots was extremely expensive. Most bots with the allergy ended up slowly starving to death.

He'll invest in some of it for her, if they stay together. He's on a Prime's salary, which means he can afford it. He'd be able to afford it _better_ if he was on a Magnus's salary, but he'll just have to wait for Optimus to do something stupid enough to get himself demoted by the Council. It should only take a few vorns.

"Uh, sure." Sari lays against his chest briefly, smiling up at him, and Sentinel tries to keep them away from the cameras he knows are pointed at them. They've been noticed by the media. Only his . . . temperament, and that one noteable incident where Sentinel had punched a camerabot in the face was stopping them from approaching and demanding answers.

He sets her down when they're on the sidewalk, transforming into his vehicle mode on the street, and opens his door for her. She climbs in, buckling up and rubbing his door when he closes it. He smiles to himself, taking off down the street. "Where do you live?"

She laughs softly, "I don't think that you'd be allowed in, actually. I'm in the ninjabot neighborhood. They don't like nonninjabots in there, not even to visit. They hate being forced to let Optimus in, and give me a hard time if he shows up."

Well, that complicates things, but isn't too terrible. He can deal with this. He really can. It just means that he won't kiss her goodnight on her doorstop. If... if she wants a kiss at all. Granted, she _is_ a ninjabot since she just said she lives there, so she will likely want one.

Primus. He's dating a ninjabot Decepticon. He never thought this would happen. If his creators were still online, they would be tisking at him and informing him that no bot in their lineage was allowed to have a relationship with a bot like that. His extended family was unlikely to approve of it either, but he hasn't actively contacted them in decavorns, so he doesn't expect them to suddenly get interested in him.

They didn't contact him when he was made Magnus. They're not going to now.

He heads to the ninjabot neighborhood, and she touches his inside wheel again, rubbing it in a far too distracting manner. "Did... did you enjoy the play, too?" she asks softly.

He flicks his windshield wipers happily, "I did." Less because of what the play was about, and more because she is with him. She did not argue about anything that went on, and she had gasped in appreciation about all the more Autobot themes. It shows that she is more than willing to make that jump from neutral to Autobot. She may be waiting longer to be fully neutral to get rid of her Decepticon past before becoming an Autobot, but that is more than possible. He will do everything he can to help her.

He told her he'd keep her safe, and this will just be a part of that.

She slips out of him when they arrive, and then leans over to press a very brief kiss to his window, facemask tapping against it. "I had a very nice time tonight." While his sensors are still tingling, she pats one of his rearview mirrors and slips away, into the night, disappearing from sight.

He transforms up and stares after her, wishing he'd gotten that kiss somewhere more sensitive, like his mouth.

He smiles and folds back down, driving away. There was always next time. But first, he has a gift to prepare for her.

A very costly gift, of crystals and energon that she can fuel on.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p>

Okay, okay, I know you're going to be upset at us for this. How _could_ we do something as horrible as make a fic staring _Sentinel_? Because he's not terrible. He really isn't. He's noble, and steadfast. Yes, he's a jerk, but that doesn't mean he is a terrible person. Just hold through it :3


	2. Chapter 2

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>He sits in his office, putting the last few finishing touches on it. He couldn't put it all together at his place, since he had to stop by a supply shop to buy the mix for the energon. It is sitting off to the side, since the directions say that the closer to the time it is fueled on, the more effective it will be. He doesn't want to give her something that hurts her. That would ruin the entire reason he's even doing this.<p>

There's a knock on the door, and it opens without him saying they can enter. He doesn't look up as Optimus, and it can only be Optimus, steps in. He continues to carefully decorate the plate so that the crystals stand up and look like natural clusters. "Did you need something, Optimus Magnus, sir?"

Optimus looks enraged. Sentinel briefly wonders if the Magnus has finally gone off the deep-end, and then remembers all the mediabots watching them last night. Ah. It must have been on the news this morning.

"I _know_ you were warned away from Sari, Sentinel," Optimus says softly, dangerously. "Would you care to explain why you took her out anyways? There's no way she would have agreed to go with you. What did you blackmail her with?"

He frowns at him, looking up briefly before returning to work on the crystal plate, "Why would you automatically think that I blackmailed her to get her to date me?"

The datapad is dropped next to him, jarring the crystals and making a few fall over. He sighs, placing them back upright, and then looks at the datapad. It is predominately showing a picture of him holding her. He looks rather stern, and she looks wide opticked and innocent. He's glad there isn't a picture of her getting into his cab, at least.

He looks up at Optimus, "And how does this show that I blackmailed her?"

"I know you, Sentinel. You're dating her because you want something. Just tell me what it is. You don't need to go through her to get it." Optimus crosses his arms over his chest. "If you have a fetish, there are plenty of prostibots willing to indulge you for the right amount of credits. I know several of our officers who can direct you to a brothel that will suit your needs.

Sentinel shudders. A Decepticon brothel? He hopes to Primus there aren't any on Cybertron. "No. That is _not_ why I am in a relationship with Sari."

Optimus crosses his arms, "And why, exactly, are you trying to date her, then?"

He focuses on the crystals, not wanting to show the blush high on his cheek arches to Optimus, "She... intrigues me. She is small and lovely, and had managed to elude me for so long. I... I... I don't mind that she's a Decepticon." he looks the Magnus straight in the face, "I figured out what she was, and it... it is something I can live with. She is clearly trying not to be a Decepticon any longer, the lack of faction symbol shows that, and I am more than willing to try to be with her."

"You-" the Magnus makes a choked sound. "No. Just . . . no. She's not . . You stay away from her." He turns, and Sentinel coughs politely, drawing his attention again.

"Would you mind giving this to her?" He holds the tray aloft. "I know she must have an energon allergy. I got this for her to fuel on. To show that I understand. I even found a cafe that sells this blend on the menu, so we can go there together next time."

The Magnus glares at him, "You aren't going to be going out with her again. Do you understand? You are not to ask her again or try to find-"

He looks at the bot, then interrupts quietly, "Even when I was Magnus, I never ordered a bot not to be with someone they liked. If the bot they liked was a Decepticon, they were allowed to either leave or have the Decepticon change factions under a probationary period."

The Magnus's servos clench into fists, and the bot hisses at him, "You . . . if she wants to see you, she can. But . . I doubt she'll want that, you aft. We'll be making sure you didn't blackmail her into this. And you . . really don't know the extent of her secrets. I can't trust you with her." The bot gives him the coldest look he's ever seen from Optimus. "If you hurt her, I will personally destroy you, Sentinel. It will be the only time I take advantage of my rank. You will be exiled to the furthest reaches of space."

Since he has no interest in hurting her at all, but that talk of secrets he doesn't know unsettles him. He doesn't want her to have had done something terrible, or have had something terrible done to her. Maybe she got shoved into Blackarachnia's experiments and got forced into a single altmode, having been reprototyped with one of those... humans. It would explain how she is so tiny and things like that.

The very idea makes him shudder.

He steels himself, and pushes the tray to Optimus, "Still, give this to her? I want her to have it, and let her know I found an energon shop that she could possibly fuel at."

Optimus takes the tray, frowning at him, "I doubt it." The Magnus blinks at the cube of energon, "Is... is this _Voxian high grade_?"

He blushes, looking down, "Well, I just.. If I'm going to get her something, she may as well have something good. The package for what is mixed in is right there, and she's so tiny, I don't mind getting her something extra delicious. She just... won't fuel for the rest of the sol so she doesn't get overcharged."

"She's not going to fuel on this," Optimus frowns at it. "I'm not sure why she would want to either, this brand makes your glossa feel . . . strange."

That was because Optimus was a giant virgin and had no idea about spark licking. "I think she'll enjoy it. Have her at least try a sip, please. I doubt she gets much fuel otherwise, and I want her healthy. Is that so much to ask, Optimus?" Sentinel gives him a pleading look, feeling shame all the way down to his spark. He hates having to beg like this.

The Magnus gives him a dirty look. "Fine, but don't expect her to like it." The bot turns around, muttering something about Sari not being able to eat crystals before the door shutting.

He sighs softly, feeling a little depressed. It seems that nothing he does will be good enough for her. If she can't eat that, he is running out of options. He would have to try to get her a cora blend or something like that. Nothing like red, which would make her inclined to interface. As... as much as he'd like her to, he will not _drug_ a bot into joining his berth.

He's not a monster.

He isn't.

Even if Optimus and his team seem to think he is.

Sentinel works on his datapads, and eventually has to give up and go into the offices for the lower ranked officers again.

He stands in front of them, and the dozen bots there all stare at him with wide, frightened optics, like petrorabbits caught in a laserhawk's sight. "This is not acceptable," he waves a datapad at them. "I have told you a hundred times that this is not acceptable. I don't want long, rambling stories. I want you to make a list of the things you've accomplished. That is all. It should take you a klik tops."

They all give him terrified looks, and one says cautiously, "But, sir, you want to know what we're doing, and we have-"

He points at the meeting room, "Everyone in! Go! I will explain _exactly_ what we are doing, since the last few times just didn't stick. We'll even use this one here as an example!"

They all hurry in, not wanting to fan the fire of his ire, and he follows them in. he watches as they all crowd in, and he walks over to the console, connecting it to the datapad, setting up his fragging presentation. There's a bot from the crowd saying, "Is... is that my report?"

He makes sure that everyone can see it, "I don't know, is it? It doesn't matter for this, since I'm just going to show _all_ of you exactly what I need." He points to one of the paragraphs, "This right here, when you ramble on about deciding if you need to go out to lunch last sol? It is not needed. No one needs to send me these sorts of things." He crosses it all out decisively. "This bit, right here," he points about three paragraphs down, "where it says that you did the start of the expense report, and are waiting on more information? That, right there, this is what I need."

He goes through the rest of it, circling about four more points, and crossing everything out. He points at it all meaningfully, servos on his hips.

"There are five things that I needed in this entire fifteen page report. _Fifteen pages_, and I only need five sentences. It does not matter that you look at the datapad and think, 'I need to fill this out, or it looks like I'm not doing work.' _All I need_ is the information about what you actually did. I don't care if you only have one sentence to give me. Or _no_ sentences. Since that no sentence shows that you didn't even work, and just goofed off on the com'net all sol. You should have done something, even if that was written as gathering information."

One of the bots raises a servo, "If we chat on the com'net with suspected Decepticons, can we list that as gathering Decepticon intel?"

Primus save them all. "Depends. Are you actually gathering intel, or are you asking them for filthy spark pictures to self-service to?" The bot stays silent and looks away. "I'd like to remind you that your monitor and com'net use is monitored while you are at Autobot Command. If you are using our servers for filth, we will catch you, and you will end up with the janitorial staff cleaning the public washracks with very small brushes for the next stellar cycle."

Another bot asks, "Is there anything else we need to know, sir?"

He sighs softly, "No. You all go back to work. Remember what I said here. If any of you bring me another report that is long and rambling, you will be reprimanded for it. You all know how to do it, now, and I won't accept you say you forgot. I saved you time and effort just doing this."

They all mumble their agreement, and walk out of the room. He sighs, and starts to shut down the console he was working on. He's interrupted by a tiny servo on his leg, and he blinks in surprise to see Sari. She smiles up at him, "I liked your presentation. Not that I really should have been here, but I got tugged in. You did well."

He feels his cheeks flush with pride, "Of course I did well. I tutor classes over at the Academy once a decacycle. I don't know how the cadets can be better at writing reports than our actual employees and officers are."

Sari giggles, "Maybe if you started grading their reports, they'd give you better ones?"

Sentinel snorts, "Only if those grades affected their pay rates." He pauses, intrigued by the idea, and then slumps. "But half of the councilbots write worse reports than this bunch does. It'd never get approved."

She pats his leg, and reaches up for him, wanting to be held. He obliges her, leaning against the desk and holding her so they are more optic to optic. She touches his chin, optics moving in the way showing a smile behind her facemask -which may be the secret Optimus is talking about. Maybe her face is infected with some sort of horrible rust?

She says softly, "Maybe. They all are pretty terrible at writing. Optimus complains about that a lot when I have to run his datapads." She touches him again, giving him a shy look, "I... I got the crystals you got me. I can't eat them. I really can't."

That's disappointing, but nothing too terrible. "And the energon? Could you drink that?"

She sighs sadly, "Optimus said that Ratchet saw the tray before me, and took off with the energon. Ratchet said it was inappropriate for me to have or something. I'm not really sure what he's talking about."

Sentinel flushes. Fantastic. They're going to assume he got her that high grade as a come-on, when really, he just loves the way it tastes and wants to share it with her. Yes. It makes the glossa tingle like you've been licking a spark if there's rust flake added to it. Hers didn't have that. It would have had a mild tingle, but nothing inappropriate.

He was a gentlemech.

"I can get you another cube if you like. There's a shop," he can't leave work in the middle of the sol, but . . . "We could go grab a cube at this shop. It has energon that you should be able to fuel on."

She looks away, "I don't... I don't fuel... I..."

He gives her a pleading look, "I know it is expensive, but I just want you to be able to fuel and not have to go off planet to get it. I am more than willing to get you what you want."

She looks up at him, then touches his chin, "I... yes. Okay. I don't think that it matters much. It will still not do very well with me, but... I'm willing to try since you want me to. If it doesn't work, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing."

He nods, smiling brightly, "I'm glad you're willing." He sets her down carefully, "I... I can even get us a private spot in there, where no one will see you. I won't look while you fuel, so you can hide your face." He blanches, worrying that he's insulted her, "If you have a mouth. I didn't mean to just assume you did. I know plenty of bots don't. Do you use some other method of fuel intake? I don't mind." He bites his lip, "Not that it matters if I did mind. It's natural for bots to have different ways to fuel." He's really fragging it up now.

Her optics glow, "I have a mouth. It's . . a weird mouth, but it's not missing."

He gives her a nervous look, "So you can fuel normally, and I wasn't insulting you by trying to give you crystals?"

She puts a servo to her facemask, giggling softly, "Not really, you're fine." She touches his leg, "It is just that the crystals are too hard for me to even try to eat. I'd break my dente, even if Ratchet says they are meant specifically for crushing crystals. I tried to before, and I had to replace several of the gears."

He winces at that. Replacing a gear in the mouth means that she was _really_ hurt because of it. "I won't get you any more crystals, then."

She smiles up at him, "I liked them, though. They're really pretty."

He wonders if she's the type of femme who likes to decorate herself. "I'll get you decorative crystals, then. Fuel-grade ones are never as nice." He knows a gardener near the docks who has a collection of truly beautiful crystals. The mech is reluctant to part with them, but Sentinel can get a few if he agrees to a bit of hard labor and maintenance. Crystal work is easy, but labor-intensive.

She tilts her head, optics glowing happily, "I'd like that." She glance at the door, "I should get back to work, though. Optimus and Bumblebee will be looking for me. I can't just stay hidden forever."

He nods, waving at her, "You go ahead." He smiles, watching her go. She has a lovely walk, even if it is a flat footed one that most femmes never have. It is... nice to have a bot with him that walks in a practical way.

He sighs, and settles down at his desk, waiting eagerly for the end of his shift, and his next date with the femme.

She's beautiful, sitting across from him at the table at the Wire and Widgets cafe, waiting for their energon. He's ordered for her, but she doesn't seem to mind. She's polished up nicely, and he swears she must have rubbed metal flake on her tiny sparkplates, because the blue emblem is practically glittering.

He's incredibly glad that they are in a private room, or he would feel slightly compelled to block her from everyone's view. She is too beautiful to just let anyone see.

She looks up at him shyly from under her helmet as he gives her the tray of various energon cubes he ordered for her. "Are you sure I should? I mean, I know that this one," she points at the cube to her right, but not to the far right, "is one of the higher quality plain energon blends. I can't afford this, but you have all of these lined up from cheapest type to most expensive. Are you sure? I won't be able to drink them."

He smiles at her, "Sometimes, a bot with an energon allergy can have some of the very high quality ones. You are... small enough that it will be easy to get you the more expensive types."

She blinks at him and says quietly, "I don't have an energon allergy." She takes the first cube and sips from it, blinking with shock. "This is . . . this actually tastes right. Good." She takes another sip and places the cube down. "But the texture's not quite right."

If she's not allergic to energon, he doesn't know why she can't fuel on normal energon. "Go on. try the others. They're better grades. They'll taste better."

She works her way through the cubes and Sentinel sips from his own middle-grade, watching her, taking delight in each and every smile she gives him. He is glad that she doesn't have some horrible disfiguration or... tentacles on her face. She just has a black expanse that opens up revealing the oddest dente he's ever seen. Her smile is filled with gears and other crushing things. No wonder Ratchet said they were built for crushing crystals. The poor femme most likely onlined with her creators nowhere to teach her what to do.

He hates the idea that they would abandon her just because she is small. She is lovely how she is, even if she seems to be built to fuel on crystals.

He'll . . teach her. He takes a small crystal from the tray and snaps it in half, offering part of it to her. "You probably broke your denta because you tried to take too much at once. Your mouth is very small. You should put this in and let your gears crush it thoroughly before trying to swallow it."

Sari stares at it, and then takes it from him, popping it into her mouth. He can hear her gears start slowly, and then speed up to normal after the crystal doesn't break any of them. He feels . . . awful that no bot had ever taught her how to do this. How to fuel herself.

She makes this tiny little happy sound, her optics flickering in pleasure. "Oh... it is so good."

He can almost feel his spark break at that. How the pit didn't Optimus know to do this? How has she been surviving when she doesn't like energon and had no clue how to properly break crystals apart?

He reaches over, another broken crystal in his servo, "Want some more? I can start to get you crushed crystals. I'm sure that would be better than the whole ones I gave you earlier."

She shakes her head, "I think I can break them. I mean, I have energy blades I can use to do that now. It would work."

"You should just take them in small pieces. Your mouth isn't big enough to take full crystals." Sentinel wants to reach over and cup her cheek with his servo, even though it'd really be more like her entire helm, because she's so fragging tiny. He wants to tug her onto his lap and kiss her, and see if he can fit his glossa in her mouth. Bots with gear mouths are supposed to be very pleasant to kiss.

She nuzzles his servo, blushing adorably, "You're being so nice to me."

He smiles at her, "Why wouldn't I be?"

She bites her bottom lip, gear dente pressing against it to show them off unconsciously, "Well, you said you know my secret, but you really don't. Optimus said you thought I was a Decepticon, but I'm really not." She pulls away, "You... you won't like me if you find out."

"You have no secrets that would upset me." He takes her servo and kisses it. "You can tell me whatever it is. Or you can keep it a secret. As long as . . as long as you are not actively working for the Decepticons, I will accept it. I promise."

She shakes her head, "I'm not working for them, and you'll be upset when you find out." She reaches up and touches his cheek. "But it's fun being with you. If I have to hide it a bit longer, I guess I can."

He touches her side gently, taking care not to brush any seams to make her think he is only after her spark. That may be part of why he wants her, but likes how she speaks, what she does. "You don't have to hide anything. I am willing to-"

She moves away, looking down, "No. You really will freak out. You really don't... You just..." She moves from his attempt to touch her again. "You don't want me. I already told you that bots here don't want me."

"You worry too much." He swirls a crystal in one of the high grade cubes and offers it to her. "Just fuel up. It'll be alright." He smiles at her, and wishes briefly that she had tires. He loves having something soft and squishy to pet. He loves the way tire rubber yields to his touch, and how delicate he has to be with the smaller models.

She delicately takes the crystal, placing it in her mouth and gasping softly as she eats it. She looks lovely as she chews the crystals, little gears working in her closed mouth. He wants to pull her onto his lap, rubbing her as he feeds her a little bit at a time.

"Would you like to do something after this? Another play, or-"

She looks up at him, then shakes her head, "No. Not another play. I wouldn't say no to... going for a walk or something like that."

"There's a garden nearby with a crystal maze. I've wanted to visit it for a while, but it's for . . couples only." He flushes, "I would be honored to go with you, Sari."

She stares at him, and slowly nods, "Alright. We can go to that. Together. But . . don't get any funny ideas. I don't put out on the second date."

He flushes up with indignation now, "I would _never_ expect you to do that."

She smiles at him, dente flashing, "Good." She moves over to him, climbing into his lap. "But... I won't mind getting a kiss." Her fingers run right across one of his transformation seams, lighting up all the pleasure nodes there, "More than one."

His spark pulses in his chest, glad that she made this move on her own. Now he won't be constantly tempted to have her there when she already is. "I'd like that." His fingers run along her frame, and she wiggles in his lap, blushing prettily. "Would you like me to feed you your energon and crystals?"

She moves him a bit, and then kisses him, a soft press of the lips that she doesn't deepen just yet. "Yes. I'd like that."

He's suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that they're in a cafe. A cafe that he knows keeps a camera focused on them at all times, to provide 'better service.' He'll just have to keep the kisses . . relatively chaste. When her mouth brushes his again, and her teensy glossa flick out against it, painting a tiny stripe of wet heat against his lips, he realizes how hard that is going to be.

At least they're discreet here, and would never think to sell any vids they collect. Not after that debacle a few decavorns back, where they had their afts handed to them in court. Sentinel lets his servo slide down her back until he's cupping her aft, and he gives it the gentlest of squeezes.

She bites her lower lip, then looks away, blushing a bit. "We... really shouldn't do this. You're going to hate me when you find out what I am."

He brushes her sides, using his other servo to press a tiny broken piece of crystal to her mouth. "I already told you, no matter what, I am fine with it."

She sucks on the crystal, tiny dente grinding it up before she talks again. "You really don't want me. You don't. You got so ... disgusted about it, and you'll just end up hating me and yourself if we continue."

He leans down, kissing her with a tiny flick of the glossa that she opens to. He wishes that he could fit more in, since it _is_ one of the most unique experiences he's ever had. The little gears move and twitch against him as she makes these little happy sounds, pushing into him. When he pulls away, she is flushed and even prettier. "I can't imagine hating you." He touches her seams, "You can tell me." He pauses, glancing up at the ceilings where he knows the cameras are, "Possibly in a more... private place?" She's perfect in his arms-even if he wishes she was a bit softer in places. Elita-1 had such soft, squishy tires on her waist. It had been delicious to get his servos on them, and she'd always moaned so prettily when he'd worked on them, rubbing the soft material until she was limp and melting against him.

Sari has no tires. If she is a scooterbot, she's a hover scooter, or one with such tiny tires that they fold up and hide in her altmode. He can't see a place for them to hide. If he did, he would tease that spot until she let them out, so he could play with them. Perhaps, some sol in the future, she'll be amenable to getting some modded on, so he can squeeze them.

She lays in his lap, pushing into his servos, optics glowing with a soft lust. "I... I don't.." She rubs her seams against his fingers, demanding he keep going. He obliges her easily, loving how she responds, and she continues, "I don't know. I would... I'd like to talk to Optimus and the team before I say yes or no."

He kisses her again, glossa flicking against her mouth, and she opens for him eagerly. He touches her frame, and only moves away when she is overheating enough for her fans to start to turn on low. "If that is what you want. I will not stop you." They will convince her it is a terrible idea, and then try to scare him away, but he can _not_ tell her no. This is her choice to make. She came back to him a second time after being warned away, he knows that she will return again.

He's quite a catch, and she knows it.

Anyone would long to have him as their lover. But he has high standards. Not just any femme will do. They have to be attractive. Smart. A bot that he can take pride in having beside him. They would have to make an acceptable consort to a Magnus, because he will end up as Magnus some sol. There's no way Optimus will last, and Ultra Magnus is still on spark support, barely conscious at any time.

Sentinel gives her another kiss, and watches her with dimmed optics. "If they warn you off, will you at least agree to keep dating me?"

She looks away, "Maybe."

He touches her side, rubbing her seams lovingly, "I told you that I will make sure you aren't hurt. I will keep you safe. You will not have to worry about anything they warn about me. I will not do anything to you."

She blushes prettily, "I... Maybe. I can't tell you yes or no. I don't know. If I tell you, I will likely have them with me. They will be there to help out. You..." She trails off, "I just don't think you will like me after this. I really don't."

He flicks his glossa against her mouth, pulling away before they can deepen it again. "If that's what you want." He doesn't like it. He really _really_ doesn't like it. They will corner him again, and do lasting damage this time. Medics are vicious, the minibot has modified stingers, the green one knows everything there is about spacebridges, and Optimus is the current Magnus.

They could kill him and get rid of his body in a way no one will ever know.

He... he just has to trust her that they won't do that.

If her secret is so awful that is _does_ disgust him, which he cannot imagine, he will have to hide his disgust and _slowly_ break up with her. Slowly. So as not to upset her friends too much. Sentinel has spent a lifetime dating femmes. He knows how to slowly detach himself without them realizing he's doing it, so they have an amicable break up where no feelings are hurt.

But he can't imagine anything that would make him want to do that to her. She's a beautiful femme with a dark, mysterious past.

He feels a bit of worry. Was she one of the less . . . stable Decepticons? Perhaps her secret is that she did _awful_ things?

Optimus said she isn't a Decepticon, but... Well, that could just mean she isn't one now. That she is just a neutral. That she-

She kisses him, licking his mouth and rubbing against him. "You think too much." She rubs a delicate servo over his face, moving up to brush his headfin and shooting electric shocks of pleasure through him. "I would like to go for that walk through the crystal garden with you now. What about you?"

He glances at the energon cubes, which are all pretty much empty, then at the small crumbs of the crystals, "I... yes. I'd love to, Sari. Is there anything specific you'd like to have before we head off? They serve ruststicks with crystals on them."

She shakes her head, "No. I want to go walking in the moonlight with you in the crystal garden."

Sentinel rubs her servo, giving it a soft squeeze, which she returns. He swipes his credit pad over the little box to pay for their energon and carries her outside. Even though he could transform, he doesn't want to. The garden is a breem's walk away, and he likes having her in his arms. She's so small and lightweight. So fragile. He likes having her against his chestplates, resting peacefully there.

"It's so pretty on Cybertron at night," she says quietly, looking up above them at the stars and Cybertron's two moon bases. "I love the night sky."

He smiles, rubbing her headfins, "It is rather lovely, isn't it?" He loves how responsive she is to touch, like no one did this to her, and suddenly he's there to make her happy. "It used to be harder to see the sky, but then we changed how much lighting we do at night, and now there's no longer so much light pollution." He smiles, "So no matter how your optics are, we can still see the stars."

She cuddles against him, giggling happily, "I like it."

He wishes her mask wasn't back up. She looks so lovely without it, and he wants to prove to her that gear dente aren't odd looking. They're just dente. Ones specialized for crystals, granted, but still dente. Decepticon dente, really. Only Decepticons have them. They look terrifying wiht red optics. But her's are blue. Lovely Autobot blue.

They finally reach the garden, and it's beautiful at night. Some of the crystals glow with their own internal light, while others have lights angled up at their bases to help them glow and shine in the darkness. Sari gasps, her optics going wide. Sentinel swipes his credit pad near the gate, and she frowns, "You have to pay to get in?"

He shakes his helm, "No. The gardens are funded with public tax credits, but I like to make a small donation when I visit to help." He supports the things he enjoys.

She presses a servo to her facemask, then to his mouth - an approximation to a kiss, he supposes, not that it is better than the facemask kiss he got when he dropped her off at the ninjabot neighborhood the sol before - and she gives him a pleased look. "I'm glad. This is the sort of thing that should be done."

He didn't do it just because he thought she'd like it. It is just... something he likes to do. "I'm happy you think the same."

She cuddles against him, "So... this is couples only?"

He shakes his head, "No, that's a little further in. It has more couple oriented things." Nice and private with no way to record areas. Not good for 'facing - which is more than okay for him - but they can kiss and talk without anyone listening in.

The crystals interfere with recording devices.

He'd hated that when he was a Magnus, sure that bots were using these gardens for illicit purposes, but . . now that he has Sari with him, he can understand that maybe . . just maybe . . it isn't so bad. They walk through the more public areas, admiring the crystals here, and Sari slips out of his arms to walk beside him, wanting to get a better look at some of the crystals on display. None of them are priceless things, or even very rare, which is good. This area is frequented by bots with sparklings, and putting rare, fragile crystals out would lead to disasters of all sorts. In fact, they have a large patch of stardyne right near the entrance, and another patch near some benches, designed for small servos to pluck at and munch on. It's a fast growing, very sweet crystal.

He plucks a tiny bit, and gives it to her, "You should try this when you put your facemask down again. I think you'll like it."

She takes it cautiously, placing it in her subspace, "I will."

He kisses her head, walking to the couple's area, able to since there are two of them, and moves to an area he thinks she'll like. "This is a patch of glosslace. Named because it is so shiny and delicate looking. It... it matches your yellow."

She laughs in delight, "It is lovely." She reaches out a servo, only to freeze just above it. "Can I touch it, or will it crumple like how lacewing would?"

He touches it, "It is perfectly safe. It is more of a decorative one than food grade. It won't just fall apart in your fingers."

She slides her servos along it, feeling the sharp edges and blunt tips of the crystals. "They're interesting. I like the way they feel." She steps back and tips her helm to one side, admiring them. "I think maybe I'll start growing some crystals here."

A smile tugs at his lips. Crystals are a time-consuming commitment. It means she's sure that she'll be staying on Cybertron. Sure of her commitment to the Autobot cause. He is very happy about that. It makes his spark feel lighter than air. "I can recommend a few shops for you to visit if you want to grow crystals."

She leans against him, "I'd like that." Her little fingers rub in his seams, lighting up sensitive sensor nodes with pleasure, "I'd like that a lot." She looks like she's going to say something else, but fall silent, leaning against him with dim optics.

He touches her frame, "Would you like to go into the more... private areas?" He would like to return to kissing her, showing her how much he cares for her.

She looks up at him from the corner of her optics, "I... It is a very... public... place here."

He smiles, "Not where we'd be going. You can't record anything here, but ... no one can see us unless they look to where I am planning."

"Oh." A pretty blush lights her cheeks, just above her mask. "Um. Okay. Let's go, then?"

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Transformers Belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>He takes her servo in his and walks with her into the crystal maze. It's a bit awkward, with the size difference, but he likes walking this way with his tiny femme. He likes carrying her too, but that can come later. "They say that a couple that finds their way to the center of the maze the first time they enter it is destined to remain together. Should we try to find our way there?"<p>

She laughs, a beautifully musical sound, "That is very optimistic talk for just the second date." She nuzzles his servo, "And yes, we should. As long as you don't cheat. No making the way there because you have a map to the place. I bet that would ruin the spirit of it, and make it _impossible_ for us to stay together."

He smiles, "I fully agree. It also helps that I really don't have a map of the maze. We'll have to make our way there blind."

She crinkles her optics in a smile, and squeezes his servo, "Good. I'd... I'd like it if we do stay together. It means that you can accept me for me. I'd like that a very great deal."

"I already accept you." He brushes a servo against her back. "Let's find the center, shall we? It's a very large maze." She nods, and they walk together, stopping at each possible branching point in the path. "Left or right?" he asks at the first one, and Sari concentrates.

"Left." They walk down that path for a bit, and she smiles at him, "I guess we'll take turns choosing the way."

He nods, and guides them down the right fork, and follows when she picks the middle path at the next branch. They pass another couple, who smile at them.

"Looking for the center?" the cyclebot asks, leaning against his larger cranebot lover. "Very few bots find it."

He shrugs, "We'll still try. Even if we don't make it, the journey is still fun." He presses his fingers against Sari, smiling at her with dim and happy optics, "I get to be with her, so it is not a problem if we take a little longer than we planned." He didn't plan any length of time, and he is more than willing to stay out here until she falls into recharge in his arms. He would likely end up taking her home to his place, and give her his berth while he recharged on the couch.

She giggles, leaning against him, "I am sure we'll find it eventually. Even if it isn't on this trip."

The other mechs smile wider, and the cranebot replies, "You won't get Primus's blessing if you don't find it this first trip. They say there's a trick to finding it, of course. I wish you luck in figuring it out." The pair walks away, whispering soft words to each other.

They'd looked rather familiar. "I think they own this maze," Sentinel muses to himself aloud. A trick to finding the right path? He was intrigued now.

Sari tugs on his servo, "C'mon. I bet we're almost there."

He lets her lead him along, looking for what could possibly be the way in, and then blinks at the next path. Catching her shoulder, he points at the left one, "Did the others have these little crystals in them?"

She tilts her head, looking at them, "Well, yeah. That's the ones I've been choosing when they come up. I don't know if they're right or anything, but it feels like we should be going there."

He smiles, "Then let's just follow those, then? Since you think we should be, we will. I had been choosing at random, but you actually had a plan."

"It's not much of a plan," she says, rubbing the back of her helm sheepishly. "There are a lot of colors, and I don't know which ones are right. I mean, I think the blue ones are, because we seem to be moving deeper when I pick a blue path, but there are red and green ones, and a few pinks. I-"

Sentinel studies the colors at the next path, finding a green marked side and a silver marked one. He smiles, suddenly aware of the meaning of them. "They're Primus's colors."

She blinks at him, "What?"

"The ones we're meant to follow. Blue, white, silver. Primus's colors. I imagine there might be a few yellow as well."

She reaches up to him, "Well, then carry me. You go faster when I'm not here dragging you behind. We can hurry to the center now that you figured it out."

If she wasn't _her_, he'd tell her to transform, but the idea of making his little femme go into vehiclemode to keep up makes his spark hurt. She is a little scooterbot, and wouldn't be fast no matter what. Besides, he loves holding her. And that assumes that she _can_ go into without help. She might very well be visiting a medic to help her transform off-planet.

He scoops her up, nuzzling her lovingly, "I can do that." he smiles at her secretively, "Then if we make it, you'll know that I won't leave you, no matter your secret." He hopes the secret really is about her having been a Decepticon, and not a terrible one. He's already come to terms with that.

Sari looks at him sadly. "If we find the center, I'll . . tell you my secret."

He kisses her tenderly, lips brushing against her mask. "You do not have to tell me if you don't want to yet, Sari. It is your choice." He won't force her to, not yet. If she hasn't told him in a stellar cycle, he'll demand to know it. But not yet.

"I'll tell you," she promises, "if you take me to the center of the maze."

He kisses her again, optics dim, "Only if you want. You're allowed to change your mind when we get there." He barely knows her. Only two sols together other than the ten stellar cycles he was chasing after her. If it is truly so terrible, he will want time to get used to her. To break it off slowly. He won't let her be hurt by him. He promised her, and he keeps his promises.

She curls up next to him, optics offline, "I won't change my mind."

He pets her back, walking through the maze, following the colors of Primus. He hits a wall that he _thinks_ is a dead end until he turns to the right, and sees that the hallway they went down was just there to hide the door out. Walking through, he gasps softly in amazement at the sight of what's in the center of the maze.

A very detailed sculpture of Primus.

He stares at it, and wishes he could touch it, but a statue like this is sacred. It cannot be defiled by servos on it. Sentinel kneels down in front of it, and Sari blinks at him again.

"What are you doing?"

Sentinel bows his helm and whispers a soft prayer to his god, for luck, and a good relationship with his femme. When he lifts his helm, he thinks the statue looks a bit brighter, but it's nothing more than a trick of the light. "Praying," he answers simply, before pulling Sari onto his lap, closer to his chest. "If you have something to ask of him, now is a good time."

She looks over at the statue, and tilts her head. He isn't sure if she's praying or not, but it takes a long moment for her to return her attention to him. She tucks her knees under her adorable head, "I... I told you I'd tell you. So I'm going-"

He puts a finger to her facemask, "You really don't have to if you don't want to. You told me that Optimus and his team should be there with you as you said it. I am willing to wait."

She offlines her optics, turning her head, "N-no. I should tell you now. You took me here, and I said I would. You... you should know sooner, rather than later. So you can just leave if you do hate me for it."

"I won't leave you."

She makes a half-laugh, half-sobbing sound. "You will. You- . . just look." She transforms, and Sentinel wonders what's so terrible about her alt, and then-

He's staring at an organic.

An eerily familiar organic.

Suddenly, he remembers why the name 'Sari' sounded so familiar to him. Sari was Optimus's organic companion. His 'human' friend. Sentinel feels his frame shudder.

But for the life of him, he can't tell if it's in disgust or arousal. Sari is staring at him with wide organic optics, terrified visibly that he's going to reject her. Sentinel forces himself to reach out, spark aching when she flinches from his servos. Her organic flesh doesn't burn him, and she's not leaking acid anywhere.

He gently pulls her against his chest and rubs her back, very careful not to apply too much pressure. Her frame is . . . so soft this way. He's terrified of damaging her. He... really isn't sure how much he likes her now. Not sure at all. She is wonderfully soft and even more delicate, but... she's an _organic_.

Techno-organic, he supposes it more correct. But, still. She's... not a bot.

But he promised not to hurt her. Telling her she's disgusting and horrible - especially when she doesn't seem to be anything dangerous - would be hurting her. If he truly can't handle this, then he will let her down slowly. Won't hurt her, and will make her think it was her own choice to get rid of him, rather than because he convinced her.

He rubs her back, kissing the top of her head cautiously, "I told you that I won't leave you because of this."

She looks up at him, organic optics wide and leaking, "R-really?"

He wonders if the leaking fluids are toxic, and if he'll need to be decontaminated afterwards. "Really." He risks it and kisses her cheek, his lips wet with the strange fluids now. They taste . . odd. Not bad, but strange. "You . . shouldn't let other bots see you this way, though. Most bots are afraid of organics. They don't have the exposure to them that I have had." He's even touched organics before. He's very skilled with handling them now. Even with their acid slimes and spit.

Frag. Now he's going to have to research organics from her little mudball planet.

Sari sniffles, "You . . you're not afraid of me? You don't think I'm disgusting?"

He thought she was very . . soft. Very soft and squishy, and he sort of wonders if he can rub her soft parts against his spark. "You aren't disgusting, and I'm not afraid of you." He likes her more as a bot, though, but he imagines he's forgiven for thinking that. _He_ is a bot, and that would give him a bias for such things.

He lets her kiss him, flicking his glossa out carefully to meet her organic one. It takes everything he has not to shudder at the sliminess of it. It is gross, and he doesn't like it. He rubs her back as she transforms back. That is _much_ better, even if he misses her softness. She kisses him again, facemask retracted. "I..." She gives him a shy but happy look, "I should have believed you when you said you wouldn't hurt me." She puts the facemask back on, cuddling against him. "I think I'm ready to go home now."

He carries her out of the maze, trying to forget the slimy wriggling of her organic glossa. He thinks of her soft, supple frame instead, and feels his spark heat a bit. He never thought he'd be getting aroused by thoughts of an organic.

Sentinel drives her home, and she keeps rubbing his steering wheel inappropriately, stroking her thumbs over it. When he gets her to the beginning of the ninjabot district, she slips out and kisses his window again. "Thank you for tonight, Sentinel. I liked it. A lot."

He flicks his windshield wipers, "I'm glad, Sari." And he is. He kind of wishes that she hadn't told him right then, but he will live. He can deal with this. He just... needs to figure out what he's going to do about everything.

He drives back home, and heads straight to his washrack. He wants to disinfect himself to the best of his abilities. In his mouth, anyway. His frame is just fine, while his mouth still has that slime on it. That's so disgusting, he doesn't even know what is in it.

He still needs to research organics on that mudball she lives on.

* * *

><p>There's remarkably little on organics from earth in the datapads. Optimus has submitted a file to the records with some basic information, as has the medic, Ratchet, but it's still incredibly limited. Apparently, her species does <em>not<em> spit acid or leak slime, even if he's positive there's slime in their mouths.

Ratchet calls it 'saliva' and claims it's full of 'digestive enzymes,' which doesn't make him feel any better. It's slime that the organics use to digest their prey. But as long as he keeps his contact with it fairly minimal, he should be safe. The toxicity levels that Ratchet suggests are very low, but he can't trust that rustbucket medic's studies all that much.

He's going through the datapads a second time when there's a knock at the door, and Optimus walks in without waiting for his answer. Again. He's wondering why he even has a door on his office if it won't keep Optimus away. He may as well sit out in the desk he has set up in the main area.

The Magnus stomps over to him, and Sentinel is not the least bit surprised to see all the rest of his team joins in. His office is not _made_ to hold this many bots, especially one that is Bulkhead's size - he researched their names, so he now knows he had gotten Bulkhead and Bumblebee mixed up.

He sighs softly, pushing the datapads away, not bothering to hide them. "Did you need something, Optimus Magnus, sir?" It is always best to remind Optimus of his rank, it keeps the mech from pressing him so hard.

"You . . . you've done something to Sari, haven't you?" Optimus looks one klik away from drawing his axe and attacking with it. "She claims she told you her secret and you accepted it."

The medic leans in, his expression unpleasant, "That means one of two things. You're planning on blackmailing her to get back at Optimus and the rest of us, or you're an organic fetishist. Which one is it?"

Sentinel frowns at them, "Neither. I like Sari, and she likes me. Her . . nature is not a hindrance to our relationship. Earth organics are not dangerous." His faceplates wrinkle a bit, "Kissing them is a bit strange, but they're harmless. I-"

The minibot shrieks at him, "You _kissed_ her?"

He looks at the little yellow mech for a long moment, "What did you expect me to do on a second date? Sit there and do nothing when she climbed into my lap?"

Optimus starts to shake in anger, "You mean you _pulled_ her into your lap. How dare you-"

He gives the truckbot a dirty look, "I will thank you not to accuse me of that, Optimus _Magnus_. I would never force someone to be with me. I never _made_ her go out with me on that first date. If she had refused, I would have let her go, and that would have been the end of that. But she didn't. She decided, of her own freewill, to go with me to a play. Just like how she had wanted to go out to an energon shop and walk in a crystal garden." He isn't telling them that they most likely got a blessing from Primus out of it. He is hoping that this does turn out well, but he imagines they will do everything in their power to pull her away from him.

"She's techno-organic," Optimus says flatly. "You've made your opinions of them quite clear."

He tenses, "Organics can pose real threats to us, Optimus, and Elita-1 . . she's offline. Blackarachnia chose to be a Decepticon. She chose to commit sadistic acts of torture and experimentation on mechs and other organics. Do not judge my opinions on all techno-organics based on my opinions of her."

He is trying very hard to overcome his instinctive fear of organics. They are not helping.

Optimus's fists clench, and his team draws closer to him. Sentinel fears for a moment that they are going to attack him, but then the large green bot whispers something in Optimus's audio, and the mech relaxes, a smile spreading on his faceplates. "So, you claim you have no problem with organics? I'd like to see a little . . proof."

Sentinel's internal warnings start blaring at him. He knows that expression. "You-"

"We have a delegation from Tencton coming next sol. It's very kind of you to volunteer to serve as their escort while they are on planet."

Tencton . . . Tenctons . . he scans his databank and silences a groan. They're a species with dozens of slimy, oozing tentacles. A very friendly species who like to tug bots into their tentacles for hugs and groping, leaving disgusting, sticky slime behind. "Yes," he grits out between clenched denta, realizing this is the price he has to pay for dating their femme. "I would be happy to serve as their escort."

Optimus smiles, leaning on his desk, "Good. You'll need to get up bright and early to greet them. You know they like being here all sol long."

Oh, Primus, he does know. He had gotten out of any time they showed up before, completely unwilling to let them near him. Now... now he needs to do this, and it sickens him to his spark. At least with Sari, he had been chasing after her long enough to be _able_ to hide his disgust, but now he's going to have to deal with the gross Tenctons.

He isn't looking forward to it at all.

"Yes, sir."

Optimus slaps him on the shoulder hard enough to leave a dent, but his expression is manic, almost frightening in its false cheer, "Just think, Sentinel Prime. If you do a good job here, I might promote you to be in charge of all of our organic relations with our allies."

Sentinel grits his denta harder, "Yes, sir."

* * *

><p>The Tenctons are disgusting organics. They're not harmful, but they're covered in slime, leaving slime trails behind them, and they're terribly offended by cleaning drones, meaning that they have to make sure that the Tenctons never see the little drones that have been ordered to follow behind them and clean up.<p>

They chirp like excited sparklings at the sight of him, rushing him like a wall of gross organic tentacles. He barely manages to keep from flailing in disgust as he's hugged and groped. His aft and all sorts of other embarrassing places are going to be covered in tiny dents from their touch. They can't press hard enough to hurt him, but he gets the impression that they want him to be covered in such terrible things.

One of them even has the audacity to rub a tentacle on his sparkplates, teasing it and giving him a look he knows from studying datapads on their expressions. It seems like the filthy thing is hoping that he will still be available by the end of the sol, and if she - and it is a she, due to how her frame is decorated - can drag him off to the berth.

That is never going to happen.

He pushes the tentacle away, squeezing it firmly to indicate that he is rejecting her offer. She gives him a sorrowful look and then wiggles her tentacles over the rest of his frame, until he's completely covered in sticky slime. He squelches as he walks with them down the halls, and a humiliated flush rushes to his cheeks when he hears his fellow Autobots barely hiding laughs as he passes. He gets a bit of revenge when one pretty cyclebot-Horsepower-gets dragged into the Tencton lovefest and molested just as much as Sentinel had been by their tentacles.

He is not going to be having fun this sol, and it is only going to get worse and worse. He has no interest in doing this other than to suffer through to show that he can deal with organics. That he is worth Sari's time.

And, really, Sari in her organic frame is downright appealing. He would let her use his frame however she wants, as long as he's never with the Tenctons again. She may be slimy in her mouth, but she would never _cover_ him in it. She's far too tiny.

He would really prefer to keep her tucked in his arms right now, and not be here.

But he suffers through it for her. For his little femme. He suffers through the gropes and the slime, and the way their sticky slime oozes into his joints and _burns_ after a megacycle or so. It isn't harming him, but his sensors react to it like it was, and it makes him so slagging itchy and miserable. He can't even sneak off to de-slime, because the nanoklik he'd come back, they'd slime him again, marking him as their escort in the disgusting, organic, primitive way that their species does. Sentinel shudders and sits beside them in the council chambers, absolutely silent. He doesn't even point out the stupid things Optimus keeps saying this time.

He feels sick and grumpy, wanting nothing more than to curl up in a solvent pool and not leave for a sol or five. Anything to get away from these disgusting organics.

When it is finally time to send them off, he can barely move for how his frame insists he is damaged. He waves them goodbye as they return to their ship, since they hadn't managed to get any bot to agree to let them into their berths, and he heads to a washrack in headquarters. Normally it is ignored or locked off, but now it is all his.

He doesn't have a solvent pool in his apartment, so he is grateful that the one here is available for him. Even more when he sees it is filled. He will step into it when he takes off almost all that he can in the solvent sprays.

Sentinel sinks into the pool, which is heated and wonderful, shuddering with pleasure as the solvents wash away the last traces of the slime. It feels so slagging good to have it gone, and his sensors finally stop screaming at him, no longer flashing thousands of damage warnings in his processor. "Frag," he mutters to himself, laying his helm against the edge of the pool for a klik, before ducking down under the solvents to wash that too. They'd gotten slime inside his pipes, which had been incredibly disgusting.

He can't believe he agreed to do this.

Sari had better appreciate the sacrifices he made for her. And she'd better understand if he didn't kiss her organic mouth for a decacycle or two because of Tecton flashbacks. One of them had managed to shove a tentacle into his mouth when he'd tried talking, and Sentinel had nearly purged when it had happened.

He sits with his optics offline, and nearly jumps out of his armor when there is a touch to his frame. He onlines his optics to see Sari next to him, thankfully fully armored. She has a cleaning cloth in her servos, and her mask off to give him a small smile. "You looked like you'd want help getting cleaned up." Her servos touch his headfins gently, sparking pleasure through his frame, "Is it okay if I help you with that?"

She must have been in the washrack waiting for him, since he distinctly remembers locking the door. He wanted _no one_ in here to witness his humiliation. But... he is more than willing to let Sari watch him. Even if it is still a little more intimate than he would really like. He isn't sure how he feels about the idea of her watching him wash off under the solvent sprays.

He moves into her touch, "Yes."

She smiles at him and strokes one of his headfin pipes, dipping a tiny finger into the end. "You've got a little slime here still." She dips the cloth in the solvents and carefully cleans his fins, rubbing the sensitive insides of the pipes. He groans softly as she polishes, trying to control his spark heat, which keeps spiking up painfully hot. Sari speaks softly to him, "I wanted to thank you, for . . you know, doing this for me. You didn't have to. I think it says a lot about you that you were willing to do it. I could tell you didn't enjoy it."

He leans his head against her, "Yes, I did. I had to prove to Optimus and the rest of the team that I was willing to do this, even if the Tenctons are..." He doesn't want to finish that sentence, not wanting to scare Sari away by showing he still is kind of not okay with her being part organic. Even if _everything_ about her is a million times better than them.

She kisses his mouth, metallic glossa flicking in, and pulls away to keep cleaning him up. "Disgusting. they're absolutely disgusting, aren't they?" He gives her a wide opticked look, not saying anything, since he doesn't know if this is a test or not. She laughs softly at his expression, and nuzzles him, "It's okay. I think so, too. They're ... slimy and horrible. I don't care how _nice_ they are, one of them tried to remove my skirt when I first met them."

Oh... that's bad. The research he read through showed that human organics had their interfacing equipment right where her skirt hides. He is not really curious to see it, though. It really makes him shudder.

He moves a bit, and kisses her tank, "They're very gross. Unlike you."

"I'm glad you don't find me 'gross,'" she laughs, kissing one of his headfin pipes. "You know," she adds conversationally, working the cloth against his plating, "I never expected to find myself attracted to a bot, but you're really quite handsome. I never thought of myself as a truck girl, but you've got that certain something about you." She smiles and shakes her head, "My dad's going to be surprised. I always turned down the trucks he used to offer to me. I always liked racecars."

Sentinel's response is automatic, "Racecars are all flash and no substance. And they're slag in the berth."

She rubs his headfin, making his optics flicker, "Well, you are certainly dependable." And he really is, he won't leave her alone and sparkbroken. He promised to keep her safe, and that's what he'll do. Even if it means having to get over his hang-ups about her. She touches his mouth, optics dim, "When are we having our next date? I'll have to polish up nicely since it is our _third_ one."

He wonders why she stresses that it is their third date, he already knows that. He tilts his head at her, giving her a confused look, "I... I haven't decided yet. I was thinking to another play, or to a crystal garden to walk again. We could do something else, if you want. I would like to... " He rubs his fingers on her sides, smiling at how she shivers, "I'd like to go somewhere you suggest."

"I don't really know many places here," she admits, before slipping into the pool with him, lying against his chest in the solvents. "There's some kind of festival going on next decacycle, I hear? Optimus wanted to go to it, but Ratchet said it wasn't something a Magnus should attend."

If she's talking about the festival of lights, where bots went for blessings from the Allspark and from Primus, it was no wonder that Ratchet wouldn't allow the Magnus to go. If a bot went there without a lover, it was assumed that they were looking for one, and would get all sorts of propositions.

He isn't sure _they_ should go. It means they would be moving much too fast for their relationship. He wants something that lasts, and he isn't going to ruin it by just making this about 'facing. He can't allow that to happen.

He rubs her side, gently cleaning her up, "I think it is best that we don't. We could in a decavorn or so, since that may be around the time we want a sparkling."

She blushes brightly, "Is... is _that_ what this is about?"

He smiles, "Not quite. If we went in individually, we would be hit on by everyone, since they would be expecting us to be looking for a bot to stay in the berth. Or for one of us to be the one that stays there. I'm just not interested in that."

If they went with blue paint on their sparkplates, it would indicate that they were looking for another lover. A third bot to carry their sparklings. Seeing as that was not the case, they should stay away from it.

However, "We can still go, if you want. We simply have to leave before it gets dark outside. The . . . partner hunting begins when the stars come out. There are plenty of games and activities we could do during the daylight megacycles if you like."

She cuddles against him, "I would. We can have fun doing that." She smiles up at him, "We can have that as our next date." Her little fingers toy with his sparkplates, "Then we visit your place?"

Oh... _that_ is what she meant by third date. He's not letting that happen.

"No. Then I drop you off back at your place." His fingers pet her frame, "We need to get to know each other first, and then-"

She gives him a hurt look, "Is... is this because I'm te-"

He kisses her, flicking his glossa in, and rubbing her frame. he doesn't pull away until she's panting. "No. It has _nothing_ to do with you being techno-organic, and everything to do with this just being the third date. I... I normally wait a vorn until I 'face any bot I am with." He looks at her, "If you don't like that, then maybe we _should_ break up."

Sari swallows around a dry intake. "I . . uh. . you do realize I'm not even a vorn old, right?"

Sentinel stares at her. He must have misheard. "What?"

"I'm . . twenty-two stellar cycles old. Techno-organic, remember? We age differently. Ratchet says I'm gonna live as long as one of you, but . . . well, I don't want to wait a vorn before we 'face. If we're gonna do it. That's . . almost as long as I would have lived as an organic."

Sentinel shifts uncomfortably. He's not sure if he wants to agree to that. "It means a lot to me, Sari, to wait."

She looks up at him, then drops her head on his chest, "If... if you want to, we can wait. I just... If you want to interface with me earlier, tell me? I don't want-" She cuts off, hiding her face, bringing up her mask and burying it in his chest.

He rubs her back, kissing the top of his head, "We've been moving _very_ fast, Sari. Two dates right after each other. And our next one is just next decacycle. We can go slower, and get to know each other." His fingers brush her sides, "If I _do_ want to 'face before the vorn is up," and it is very likely, since by the end he hates his self-imposed delay, "I... I'll tell you."

"I guess." Sari looks awfully disappointed. She groans, "I can't even complain to Optimus about this, can I? They'll just give me _looks_." Sari pinches one of his headfins, "I should make you take me out right now as punishment. We can go to a. . . to a bar or something. Get smashed together."

It would be a terrible idea to get overcharged with her. "I would rather take you out to dinner instead."

She kisses him, glossa flicking in, and he relaxes to let her control their kiss. When she pulls away, he is dim opticked and feeling wonderfully warm. She rubs the side of his face with a single servo, "If you want to. Will we be going to the one from before, the Wire and Widgets, or someplace else? I would like to try more."

He rubs her perfect little aft, "We can go to a new one. What do you want to try?" He gives her a secretive smile, "If you want, I can try scheduling for us to get into the World's End in a vorn. It will be tricky, but I could do it."

"That place?" Sari's faceplates wrinkle, "Why a vorn? Alpha Trion already invited me there, and he said we could go any night. It sounds sketchy, though."

His servos clench, "Don't ever accept invitations from that old lech. He only wants to get at your spark." The very thought of Alpha Trion abusing his position to get Sari overcharged and in his berth makes Sentinel feel ill.

Sari laughs, "Dude, I know he wants that. I just didn't realize that the World's End was some kind of exclusive club."

He rubs her back, "It is a very high class restaurant. Alpha Trion has a long standing invitation to come in without a reservation." He sighs softly, "And so does Optimus, since he's the Magnus."

She frowns up at him, "So... if I asked Optimus to have them let us use his-"

He shakes his head, "The bot that has the invitation needs to be there. I am no longer allowed to do that since I'm not Magnus anymore." Even if he thinks he will be by the end of the vorn. Optimus having done something stupid and him getting put back in his rightful place. He'll still leave the reservation, telling them he wants it in a vorn. They'll have to do some shuffling to do it, but he _will_ get it. He is high enough up they can't frustrate him on this. Not when he gives him time to make room.

She kisses him, glossa flicking in, and he kisses back. He does love how she feels, so warm and fragile in his servos. She pulls away, and nuzzles him, "We can wait a vorn for that, then." She smiles, "But where are we going tonight?"

"Tonight?" Sentinel flushes with something like embarrassment. "We're going to Flash and Substance." His family's energon shop. They have the best whipped energon on Cybertron. Even if he's not entirely welcome there, and most of his relatives will ignore that he's related to them. He just . . . won't tell Sari that they're family. She doesn't need to get involved in that particularly family drama. It's unnecessary.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>She smiles, nuzzling him, "Optimus says he loves the whipped energon there." She gives him a cautious look, "Are... are you sure I can drink it? I really can't have most energon. It just... tastes wrong."<p>

He realizes that's most likely her frame rejecting the fuel, since she can't process it. Petting her softly, he nods. "Yes, I'll make sure that you get something you can fuel on. I'll get a cube of whipped energon, and order you one of the high grades that I know you liked." He smiles, "And a few crushed crystals, so they're sized right for your mouth." He pauses, "Would... would you like to be in a private room again, or is it okay to be in the public space?"

"We can fuel in the public area. I don't mind it. Unless you're ashamed of being seen with me," she teases him, prodding his side.

"I'm not." His family would refuse him a private room anyways. They're not going to like the blue mark on her chest. If they call her a prostibot, he's going to throw his energon in their faces. Luckily, they're usually polite enough to pretend they don't know him, and to keep silent about any bots he takes with him for fuel.

He pulls her out of the solvent, and sets her on the floor. She moves over a bit, and pinches his headfins, making his spark flash hot with pleasure. She kisses one of them, and murmurs, "I am also for just... spending time with you at your place. I'm not really allowed to bring anyone into mine unless I'm planning on 'facing them. While with yours, we can just... stay together with no 'facing."

He rather likes that idea, but he would like to test his family's reaction to her. If they are terrible to her this early, it will mean he just never comes back. "Maybe another time, Sari. I wouldn't say no to making you energon at my house, but we can go out first." Besides, staying at another's place is very... intimate. Especially since he imagines she is going to demand to be allowed to recharge on him if it gets too late.

If he onlines with her tiny spark just two thin layers of metal away from him, he's not sure that he won't try to take advantage. He's not a perfect mech. He's a gentlemech, but he has urges. Desires. His spark is not made of ice like some mechs'.

He wonders for a moment if she's ever interfaced with anyone. She lives in a ninjabot neighborhood. It's likely that she has.

It's too bad. He wouldn't have minded being her first.

She teases at his headfins, "If that's what you want."

He wants to push her down and ride her spark, since she seems so intent on getting him so hot and bothered, but he can't do that. He gently pushes her away, and stands up. "Let's get dried off, and then we can go out." He smiles at her, flipping the switch to empty the pool as he gets out, "Would you like me to hold you as we use the vents?"

She nods, reaching up, "Yes." She gives him a slightly shy look, "Will you... will you polish me after?"

"Of course." It's intimate, but he can keep his servos professional. He helped Ultra Magnus apply polish many times before important meetings, because the mech was not precisely skilled at it. It's very unfortunate that the mech is not likely to ever recover enough to apply his own polish again. Not after the damage he received. He certainly won't ever take up the title of Magnus again. A Magnus had to be capable of defending his people. Like Sentinel was.

Optimus doesn't count. He is a temporary Magnus until bots realized how daft he is.

She is warm in his servos as he stands under the drying vents, and he rubs at her wet patches, encouraging her to move to get the solvents off. When they're done, he pulls out a polishing cloth, working her frame with efficiency. She makes a tiny happy sound as he works on her headfins, then grabs his fingers before he can move to another area, "Keep doing that."

He shakes his head, "It will only end up with you opening. I... I would rather not." He would want to lean down and lick her lovely little spark. He bets it would taste delicious. And he would like to have more _time_ with her before that happens.

Primus, her spark must be so _tiny_.

He shakes himself and sets her on the floor after giving the rest of her frame a brisk, thorough coat of polish. She frowns up at him, "You're a little bit of a prude, aren't you?"

If she meant that he was properly horrified about the lax, scandalous attitude of most bots around Cybertron, then she was correct. Interfacing was private and special, a sharing of sparks that _meant_ something. It was one of the very few things that Sentinel agreed with Optimus on. "We should get going. I imagine if we dally here much longer, Optimus will find some other unpleasant task for me to perform."

She nods, watching him do a quick polish. "Are you going to transform and take me that way?"

He smiles, transforming down and opening his door, "Of course." At least now he knows why she likes being in his cab, rather than in back like a proper bot. Even if it _is_ rather more intimate that he should allow so early.

He heads out of the door quickly, making sure to hurry out and avoid Optimus or the rest of his teammates. He's not dealing with that. At all.

Sari rubs his steering wheel and hums thoughtfully, "Maybe we should, you know, double-date? Go out with Optimus or someone so they can see that you're not a jerk?"

Sentinel swerves on the road with shock, "You . . and just who would you suggest for a date with Optimus _Magnus_?"

She shrugs, "I dunno. Maybe Percy or someone like that? He's pretty cool. Or Rodimus. Rodimus is pretty hot, and he's all better from the rust thing since Ratchet figured out a better cure for it. He'd be nice."

Rodimus is a racecar, and Optimus is a virgin. He can't think of a worse matchup. Even if Rodimus was once considered the second for Magnus until he got hit with the rust. There have been past racecar Magnuses, and they were all considered the sluttiest of the lot. He wouldn't trust the bot not to try to push Optimus down and use him the moment they leave them alone.

"Perceptor is possible." He doesn't think it would work, but it would be better than _Rodimus_. The scientist wouldn't harass Optimus for interfacing on the very first date like all racecars do. Perceptor is a practical truckbot. Solid and trustworthy.

"Cool. Just think about it. I think it might help calm them down if they get to see that you're not like, some Disney villain, forcing me to go out with you." Sari pats him, and the reference flies right over his helm, but he's too prideful to ask what she means. He can gather the gist of it. She wants them to see that he's not evil.

He revs his engine at her, "If you can convince him to agree to it, I won't protest." He knows that Optimus won't go out on a date with a bot unless there is talk of making a bonding contract between them. Optimus is painfully old-fashioned.

She rubs at his dashboard, touching him lovingly, "I'll figure something out. I want you to go on double dates with each of them one at a time. I think you'll do better that way. And it will keep them from ganging up on you."

Which would be very helpful, indeed. He doesn't want to go to them with just Sari at his side. Pretty much any other bot with them will encourage her team to behave. Even more so if it is one at a time. "Possibly Ratchet with Arcee?" He knows that femme used to be part of a top secret mission in the first war, then all sorts of things happened. Now she's with the old medic, and they both seem happy enough. A bot with a femme makes it easier to relate to.

Perhaps he could get one of them to go out with Cliffjumper. Cliff has always been a good mech, and the bot doesn't get out enough now that he's in charge of the Intelligence department. It shames Sentinel that he hasn't invited the bot out for energon lately. He'll have to remedy that soon. Chasing after a mystery femme was not an excuse for ignoring a friendship. He supposes Cliff wouldn't mind dating the other minibot, Bee.

Or he might get offended by it. Perhaps he'll suggest Bulkhead instead. That seems like the best idea, actually.

"Are Bulkhead or Bumblebee dating anyone?"

She shakes her head, "Nu-uh. I don't think so, anyway. Bee is always complaining about it, but Bulkhead is pretty quiet. He _may_ be going out with this mech called Crumplezone? I'm not really sure."

He knows Crumplezone, and he does not approve. "We can set them up with another bot, if you want. I was thinking Rodimus could be with Bumblebee on the double date we do, Cliffjumper with Bulkhead, and Perceptor with Optimus. While Ratchet is with his femme, Arcee. How does that sound? We'd have to arrange it, but I imagine that would work out."

"Sure. Sounds fine to me." Sari leans against him and kisses his steering wheel, playfully flicking her glossa against it, making him rev helplessly with want.

"Don't lick that," he warns her, and tugs it out of her reach again, wishing he had a better way to control her inside of him. A system pings him and he straps her in with . . . strange belts. She giggles.

"Finally making me wear seatbelts? How sweet. Or kinky."

He flushes, "I just... it isn't safe for you to do that. It makes me lose concentration, and I don't-"

She rubs his seat, "Oh, I know." She gives him a wide grin, gear dente flashing, "I like having you go all hot and lose control like this. You've noticed I don't do it when other bots are on the road."

Which is true. He had noticed, but he hadn't realized she knew. It is nice that she's thinking of their safety. He squeezes her gently, "It is still better not to. I want to get there in one piece, just like I know you do as well."

She giggles softly, hiding her face with her servos, "Okay." She leans against his door, optics dim, "Will we be okay going to the energon shop so late? It's already dark."

"Flash and Substance stays open for the full sol. They get a lot of late-night customers from the Academy. Bots pulling all-nighters to study, or bots who work late shifts and want a nice place to fuel. The staff takes turns working to keep it open at all times." Sentinel used to do shifts there himself, back when his creators were still online and his family did not pretend he did not exist.

"Cool. So it's like . . Denny's or something."

Again, he fails to get the reference, but he revs anyways, "We won't have trouble getting any seats there."

She toys with his door, playing with a little button there that locks and unlocks him. He should _not_ think it is so hot for her to control him like this. "N-no. We won't." They will serve him like a regular customer as well, thankfully. They will just give him dirty looks and hate him silently.

She rubs him lovingly, "Good." She gives him a devious smile, "Will I be allowed to sit on your lap as you feed me?"

He laughs softly, "Maybe." They'll think he's trying to flaunt her at them or something, but he will not deny her something she wants. Not when it is so very harmless.

"Awesome." She pinches his door handle and tugs on it lightly. "You should let me drive you some time."

That was beyond filthy and he refused to allow it. Ever. "No." He tightens the belts on her, drawing her against his seats so she cannot reach his pedals. He relents a little, "Perhaps after a few decavorns, we might renegotiate that."

She puts a ped on his dashboard, "I'd like to drive you _now_."

He stops in front of the Flash and Substance, "But we're already here." He opens his door, letting her out of the seatbelt. "Let's go in."

She pouts at him, but slips out to the ground, "Do I get to when we go back?"

He transforms, frowning at her, "No. In a few decavorns. I'm not... I'm just not that kind of mech."

She leans against his leg, "Well... I _suppose_ I can wait." She looks up at him, "Going to carry me in?"

"If you like." He lifts her up and lets her rest against his chest. Most small bots hate being carried this way. Primus knows he'd made the mistake of carrying Cliff this way exactly once, before a swift introduction of the mech's servo to his faceplates had taught him the error of his ways.

She snuggles against his plates, "You're awesome." He feels very awesome, carrying her like this. Even if many bots will assume she's a well-paid escort for allowing it.

He kisses her head, then walks in. He walks over to the podium, and his cousin glares at him. The mech points gruffly at one of the empty tables, clearly wishing he wasn't there at all, and says, "That one is free."

He heads over, and Sari frowns at the bot over his shoulder, "What is that about? He was really ... rude to you. He's showing _those_ bots where to sit."

And his cousin is, and he is not the least bit surprised. He's dealt with this for a long time, and it is just normal for him. Sitting down, he pets her back, "It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. You can't just be an ass . . an aft to your customers if you want them to keep buying from you." She crosses her arms over her chest. "You should call his manager and complain."

Sentinel pats her back gently, "I am not well-liked in some places, Sari. They still serve me here, even though they dislike me. That is more than enough. I can handle a few rude afts."

She leans against him, frowning, "I don't like it. You're not supposed to _do_ this. Being professional is important. No matter what."

He shrugs, "It is fine, Sari. I will live. It does not hurt me to have this happen." Now, if they are rude to her, he will just leave. He won't let her be hurt because his family hates him enough to let it bleed over to the femme he is dating.

She offlines her optics, looking pained, "If you say so. I... I don't like them doing this."

"I'm sure you've dealt with rude bots before. Rude organics. It will pass." He shifts her so she's cradled against him when one of his cousins finally comes over, glaring at him.

"What do you want?" the bot asks brusquely, servo hovering over a datapad. Sentinel knows he'll be overcharged, but the amount is relatively minor.

"Two cubes. One of whipped high grade with a bit of this mixed in," he offers a vial of energon additive for Sari's allergy. "Another plain high grade with the other half of that mixed in." He looks down at her, smiling, "And a small tray of crushed crystals." He looks over at his cousin, "Scooterbot sized tray."

The mech writes it all in quickly, "Yeah, we'll get it out to you."

He watches as his cousin walks off, then returns his focus to Sari. "I would have gotten you rust sticks, but I thought crystals would be better."

She laughs softly, grinning to show off her gear dente, "Yeah. I would. I'm..." she nuzzles against him happily, "I'm glad you showed me how to eat them. I was having so much trouble, and..." She kisses him, and he can feel her little spark pulse happily against him. "Thank you."

"I trained a number of small bots at bootcamp. I have experience with the fueling habits of smaller model types. Experience that Optimus does not. That your medicbot likely didn't even think of."

Kissing him softly, Sari flicks her glossa against his mouth, and then settles down on his lap to wait. "What exactly is whipped energon? I mean, I've seen it, but it looks weird. Optimus makes o-faces when he eats it. Ridiculous ones. It's not really that good, is it?"

He laughs softly, rubbing her sides, "It is. You'll see. It is absolutely delicious. Even more so since I put in the additive so you can process it easier." He saw how much more delicious she thought the ones with the additive were. How her optics lit up in delight when she tasted it. He knows she won't want to go back to other fuel now that she's finally able to drink this all the time.

She giggles happily, "I'm sure you're right." She cuddles against him, optics offline. "Is there anything else you think I should try?"

He shakes his head, "No. Not now, anyway. We can do more later. It will be good to space it out." He laughs softly, "This is our third date in just as many sols. We need to slow down."

She sticks her glossa out at him playfully, "Spoilsport. You mean we can't keep having a date every sol? I guess I would get awfully spoiled if I got to have you every single evening."

Joy tickles his processor, and Sentinel smiles back at her, reaching out to catch her glossa between his fingers, "Didn't your creator ever tell you that if you make faces like that, your face will freeze that way?"

She mumbles something and makes a grumpy face at him, so he lets go of her glossa. "Bleh. My face hasn't frozen that way yet. I don't think it's going to."

He laughs softly, "Possibly." He rubs her back, nuzzling her happily. "So we'll be taking your team to meet me one by one?"

She nods, "That does seem like the best plan. Make sure they don't try to kill you." She frowns up at him, rubbing him softly, "I found out they _threatened_ you to stay away from me. Just a little before we started dating. Bee blurted out that shoving weapons in your face wasn't enough incentive to stay away." She leans against him, "I can't believe they did that. You're not a horrible bot. You are very noble and upright. Just... not in the same way as Optimus."

Optimus was terribly naive. He was so . . . optimistic. Sentinel was not. He knew how quickly a good bot could turn Decepticon with the right motivation. How easy it was for a 'Con to betray them. To trick Autobots into unwittingly helping them. But for his femme to recognize that in him .. . it was flattering.

He kisses her cheek. "When I am Magnus again," he says quietly, aware that it is treason to speak of such things, "will you stay with me?"

She looks up at him, optics wide, "You... you think you'll be Magnus again? Really?" She frowns at him, tiny little mouth curving into an unhappy arch, "Optimus is Magnus, and he is doing-"

"He is too soft, Sari. He is softer than Ultra, softer than all the other Magnuses before him. Before, when a bot that was as... soft as him rose to power, something came and crushed them down. It is not something that I want to happen."

She shakes her head, "I think you have it all wrong. Optimus is strong. He's solid and loyal. He defeated Megatron and took everyone to safety. He is a Magnus, and will know how to lead."

"We will see." He rubs her back, "I only want to know if you will stand by me when it happens, or if you will turn your back on me."

Sari scowls, "I guess it depends. If you're the one to blame for Optimus not being in control, I'll probably tell you to go frag yourself. But . . . if he steps down of his own free will, I guess I'll stay with you. I'm not ashamed of you or something."

He kisses the top of her head, "That is all that I ask. I have no interest in personally weakening Optimus. I will not be working to sabotage him. If push comes to shove, I will protect him since he is my Magnus, but I do think I will be Magnus again. He is not... cut out to be the leader of the Autobots." He gives her a small smile, touching her mouth, "And... maybe, just maybe, you would... temper out my more extreme opinions?"

He knows he does not fit in with everything, too hard edged to make it through to some things. But... she is part organic - which makes him shiver, but he will live - and she will tell him if he is scaring the populace or being too restrictive. It is him shutting everything down that made them take him from his position. She will keep him from doing that again.

"I can do that. Beat some common sense into your processor if I have to." She smiles at him, and then scowls as his cousin arrives again, clunking the energon cubes and crystals down in front of them.

"Your fuel," the bot says tonelessly, and then walks away.

"Asshat," she hisses, and places a possessive servo on Sentinel's chest. "We're going some place friendly next time, okay?"

He sighs softly, "Of course, Sari." He had hoped they would be a little politer since he was clearly here on a date, but it seems like that was just far too much to ask for.

She looks at the energon cubes, and bites her lip, "I can't drink that much. it is-"

He rubs her back, "You won't have to. I will. We're sharing this. You get all the crystals, but we share the energon. I'm sure you'll love it." His family does the best whipped energon there is, and he knows it. They had won so many awards for it.

If this doesn't work out, he'll just make it for her at his apartment. She will be fine there, and he has perfected how to make it even better. There's a reason everyone had lined up for him when he was the one cooking when he was younger.

He thinks that's a small part of the reason his family scorns him now. He chose to go into the Autobot Elite Guard rather than continue to work in the family energon shop line. His creators had been prepared to give him his own shop to run, on whatever planet he wanted, and he had turned them down. Had turned all of them down, when they'd tried to coerce him into it. He didn't want to spend his life doing _this_. Making energon. Not when he was destined to be the Magnus.

He thought they'd understand, but even when he had been Magnus, they had remained distant from him.

Sari kisses him, fingers petting his frame, "You'll feed me, right? Like you said?"

He takes one of the crystals, placing it at her mouth, "Since you want me to. I am more than willing to do this." He imagines they will think less of him for it, but he is allowed to do this. He's on a date with his femme, and whatever she wishes and he can provide is hers. Something as small as feeding her is nothing at all. He would do more for her if she only asked.

Her tiny dente grind the crystal up, and she giggles happily, "I'm so glad you showed me how to use these things. I would still be starving here if it wasn't for you."

He takes some of the high grade, holding it to her so she can drink it. "I just wanted you to be able to fuel. To have everything you need. You won't _have_ to go off planet if you don't want to." He is unsure if her creator is still online or not. from what the datapads said, the humans have such short lifespans.

"I like visiting earth. It's nice there, and the organic plants are pretty." She looks sorrowful, "Dad looks older each time I see him. He . . says he wants to come see Cybertron some day. The bots here. . . wouldn't react well. When I told him that, he said he was building a robotic suit to wear, so they would think he was a bot too." She smiles faintly, "I told him it looked silly. Would it be okay for me to bring him here to meet you?"

Sentinel fights back his instinctive shudder. He does not want to meet more organics. Even soft, squishy organics like Sari. "Yes."

She smiles brightly, "I'm sure he'll like you. You're so much _better_ than you used to be." She laughs playfully, kissing him. "A decade of time really mellows a guy, right?"

Not really, no. He is pretty much the same as he was ten stellar cycles ago. He is just better at hiding his opinions now. Granted, for her he is willing to drop those opinions. She is not terrible or dangerous. She is lovely and... wonderful. He could fall in love with her if she let him. "So it seems." He rubs her sides, "I would like to meet with your creator." He knows that her creator will not try to grope him or leave slime all over his frame like the Tenctons did.

_Any_ organic that doesn't spit acid or cover him in slime is already a step up.

Primus. Optimus is probably going to make him escort acid-spitting organics next time. Or ones that will creep into his room at night and pluck out his optics with their organic talons. He remembers all the sparkling stories about organic optic-thieves. They were nothing but sparkling tales, but they still never failed to give Sentinel nightmares.

He hopes her father is not as scary as the organics in the stories were.

She kisses him, "I'm glad. He'll like you, I think."

He does not care either way if he is liked by her creator or not. He just will see how it goes. It only matters that Sari likes him, and she so clearly does. That is all that he needs.

Granted, making her father like him will make her like him more, so that is important. But he does not have him high on his priorities list. Her creator is not as important to him as she is.

He rubs her sides, then picks up the whipped energon, "Would you... like to try this?"

She stares at it, "How do you even eat that?"

He picks up a crystal straw-rust ones add too much flavor-and offers it to her. "You sip it. Through the straw. Or you can eat it off your fingers or a spoon, but both of those methods are considered obscene, and aren't really meant for public consumption."

She laughs, "Optimus eats it off his fingers."

He raises an optic ridge, knowing this fact very well. "Like I said, obscene."

She laughs again, cuddling against him. "Yes, very much so. I should tell him not to do that."

He hopes she doesn't. It shows off how he's a better Magnus than Optimus. A leader that looks like he is meant for the cover of Playbot and eats whipped energon with his fingers is clearly not a good, _strong_ leader. One that knows what he's doing. "If you want."

He won't stop her.

She takes the crystal straw from him, putting it in the energon, only to start to nibble on the straw. He moves it away, smiling softly, "It isn't food grade crystal, Sari. It is meant to be washed and reused." He takes the straw out, pulling a different one from his subspace, "Here's one that _is_ meant to be eaten." He doesn't put it in the whipped energon, pulling out a spoon, "It will change the taste, so we'll use this first."

She takes the spoon from him and scoops up a bit of the energon fluff, popping it into her mouth. "'s good," she mumbles around her mouthful, smiling at him. She eats some more, and Sentinel sips a bit through a straw. It doesn't taste as good with the additive in, but if it makes it edible for his femme, he can tolerate it.

One of his less friendly cousins accidentally bumps into him and knocks him forward, making a bit of energon fluff spill out of the cube, fizzling into a flat, pink puddle on the table. He stays silent and doesn't look at the mech as he passes.

Sari puffs up angrily, "He did that on purpose! I saw him go out of his way to walk over here and knock into you! How _dare_ he? I'm going to go talk to the manager about this." She starts to slip out of his lap, only for him to catch her gently. "Let me go!"

He pets her back, "He _is_ the manager, Sari." His cousin was always one of the more enterprising ones, and still every bit of a jerk he always was. "It will not help."

She hisses angrily, "I don't like this! How can they act like this to you? How can you just take this? I don't like this place at all if it is going to be like this. I'm going to tell Optimus to stop coming here. It doesn't _deserve_ anyone buying things."

And then he'll need to deal with Optimus's incessant whining for whipped energon whenever he gets a craving. He had told Optimus to go here so that he _wouldn't_ have to deal with Optimus's desires for sweets. "It is fine, Sari."

"It's _not_ fine," she hisses at him. "How can you just let them treat you like that?"

"They're," he shakes his head, "they have their reasons. It's fine. We can go somewhere else next time, if you prefer. They have the best whipped energon here, but there are other energon shops we can visit."

She stares at him with hard optics. "You're being weird."

He smiles at her, "What do you mean?"

She pokes him gently, "You wouldn't allow this sort of thing to happen. You just ... _don't_ do that. It isn't what you do. You don't put up with this sort of behavior because you know that it lets the bots doing it think they can do it to others."

That is very true. He can't stand bots doing exactly what his family is doing, but he knows they are only focusing on him. They would never do this to anyone else. He will let them, because it lets him just... be with his family. Even if they hate him and wish he'd stay away.

He can tolerate their hatred. Their disdain. "It's alright, Sari. I'm used to this here. They don't treat other bots this way." He rubs her back. "Just enjoy the energon. We'll be leaving soon, and we can visit a crystal garden . . or a crystal supply shop. We can pick up a starting kit if you want to grow crystals."

She perks up in his lap, "Really? But . . I have no idea how to even get started."

He smiles, glad to distract her, "That's why it is a kit, Sari. You'll figure out how to make it from that. I can help you with it, if you want. I won't mind." He'd like it quite a bit, actually. He wants to just be with her, and this will be part of that. He'll know what to do, and can guide her through it all.

She beams up at him, "I'm glad. Optimus and the others wouldn't know what to do at all!" She pauses, tilting her head, "Well, Ratchet would, but he's always so grumpy when I ask for help with things. It isn't really worth it, you know?"

He nods, "I do know." He kisses her, feeding her more crystals, "Medics are normally very grumpy. Even Red Alert. She is quite gruff when it comes to berthside manner, but she gets the job done."

"I think First Aid is pretty nice." She giggles, "But he's starting to take after Ratchet now that they're working together more often. There goes the nice medicbot, I guess." She traces a pattern on his chest, "I've only seen a few medicbots here. They wanted to make sure I wasn't toxic or something. I'm not, by the way. I'm a very good techno-organic."

He tips her helm up and kisses her gently, "You are."

She sighs happily, nuzzling him, "I am very glad to be with you, even if where you took me is less than what I'd li-"

She's cut off by him suddenly being covered in energon from one of his cousins passing next to him and dropping a full cube right on his head, splashing her slightly. He sighs softly, pulling out a cleaning cloth, as his cousin says in exaggerated tones, "_Oops_. Sorry. I should have watched where I was going."

Oh, Primus, he wishes that the bot had just walked on by. He watches as Sari stands up and points at the mech, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm trying to serve customers," the mech answers, and then huffs when Sari continues to scowl at him. "Did you want something?"

She glares, "I want you to fraggin' apologize to us."

His cousin, and Sentinel is a little embarrassed to admit this to himself, who's name he's long since forgotten, says with a snarl, "And why would I do that? He knows he's not welcome here after what he did, and bringing what is clearly a daughter of a Decepticon and a scooterbot of a whore certainly doesn't endear him to us."

His spark goes cold, and he touches Sari as his optics flash at his cousin, "How _dare_ you call her such-"

Sari interrupts him with a soft and confused, "Decepticon?"

He looks at her, realizing suddenly that she doesn't know what gear dente normally _mean_. "Your.. your mouth. Those dente are normally only on very specialized Decepticon models. Shockwave has them, in fact. He-"

She puts her servo to her mouth, "My... my mother is the Allspark. It made my protoform just so dad would touch it."

He stares at her blankly, unaware of that fact. "Truly? I had not known that, Sari. I-"

"Oh, please," his cousin says snidely, "you expect me to believe that you are a daughter of the Allspark? It would never create a Decepticon whorebot as its daughter."

Sentinel pulls Sari against his chest protectively, as if trying to shield her from his cousin's words. "You can shut your mouth if you do not want me to have you brought up on charges." He glares at his cousin, "You know that your actions against me, a Prime, could be sanctioned. I have never bothered with it before, but if you continue to insult my companion, I will."

His cousin snorts, "Like you would. You've always covered for us, just because we're family. You-"

He gives the mech a neutral look, "I have never stepped in to keep any of you out of trouble, nor have I had you persecuted harsher than others just because you are family and you hate me. I have always tried for fairness when it comes to judging a bot. The bots that stepped in for you all when you messed up were all entirely different bots. I have come here just for _something_ resembling how it was when I was younger, but it seems it truly is a lost cause. Especially since you have stepped it up into more than mere rudeness."

His cousin snorts, "Like I believe that. You and your whore's daughter of a date can-"

He stands up, "Very well, you will be brought up on charges for this. I gave you a warning, and you did not follow it." He walks out, ignoring his cousin's incredulous yelling, and murmurs softly to Sari, "I am very sorry this happened to you. If I had known, I never would have done this."

She stares at him, and then at the other bot, disappearing behind them. "I . . . they're related to you? You. . you let them treat you like that?"

Sentinel sighs, "I had not expected them to be so blatant in their disrespect. They are usually more . . subtle about their dislike of me." He rubs her back, "It's fine. I won't actually bring charges against them. I'll file the report and let them see that it's been filed, and then drop it. They just need a reminder that I won't tolerate them treating my companions this way."

She shakes her head at him, "No. You _will_ file the charges. They never should have acted like this! Letting them get away with it will just encourage them to act badly!" She pulls out one of her small cleaning cloths and starts to take the energon off of him, "I don't like that they do this to you. If you're just doing this to prove how noble and long suffering you are, I don't like it. You shouldn't do this. Press charges, and show them they can't keep doing this."

He hadn't even thought of it as proving to her how well he can act. He just wanted to be with his family while with the femme he likes. Even if they're jerks, they're still his family. "If... If you really think I should press charges, I will. But they're my _fami_-"

"And they called the Allspark a whore, so there we are."

He stares at her for a klik. "You . . really are the Allspark's creation, then?"

"Weren't you paying attention?" She knocks her servo against the side of his helm. "Big idiot. The Allspark and my dad. . .made me. Somehow. I try not to let him talk about it too much, because it sounds really weird. Silver bodies and electric touches." She sticks her glossa out. "Bleh. The Allspark probably got off on it."

He laughs softly, kissing her head. "If it made a protoform for him to touch, that is very doubtful. It was having your creator contribute CNA-"

"DNA. That's what it is called from..." She trails off, most likely not wanting bots that could be listening to find out she's techno-organic. Granted, if he had any clue what the D in DNA stood for, it is likely he'd know from that that she was. It doesn't matter, since it wasn't in _any_ of the datapads there were to research on Earth, and he has the highest clearance short of Optimus and Alpha Trion.

Since Alpha Trion hit on her, it is doubtful that the old lech even knows she's a techno-organic.

He kisses her head, "It is was just having your creator contribute DNA to the protoform. It didn't even touch him."

"So you say, but I know it was more than that."

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p><em>He kisses her head, "It was just having your creator contribute DNA to the protoform. It didn't even touch him." <em>

_"So you say, but I know it was more than that."_ She lies against his chest, petting his armor. "But I don't wanna think about it anymore. Let's talk about. . a crystal shop. I want you to take me to a crystal shop and show me which kit I need to buy to get started. I want to grow you some crystals."

Sentinel feels himself smile, his femme warming his frame with hers. "We'll get you something simple. But we need to clean up first."

She nods, leaning her head against his chest, "Is there a public washrack around here?"

He walks in the direction they need to go, "Yes. You will not be going into the same area of me, of course, but you-"

"We could. I know there are the three separate types, mech, femme, and family. We could do the family one."

He taps her faceplate lightly, "No. It is better to do _that_ after we've been together for several vorns and are planning on having a sparkling. No sooner."

"Some places have neutral washracks we could share." She smiles at him, "No family-connections at all in those. Just a neutral place to clean up. You-"

"I would rather we clean ourselves separately." It would give her a chance to speak with other femmes for a klik. The washracks he intends to go to are always very busy at this time of sol.

She pouts at him, but nods reluctantly. "Okay. I guess it would be too imitate for us to do that. It was okay at headquarters since we were in a much more private place." Her little fingers rub his chest, "But... we could clean up at your place if you take me there sometime?"

He smiles, "If that's what you want to do, we can. It will have to be innocent, like earlier. I'm not going to let you get at my spark." He's glad she's a _shy_ femme; the pushier ones would just force him open.

Nearly all of his dating experiences when he was younger had ended that way. The femme had tried to force him, and he'd broken up with them. Only Elita-1 had been willing to wait a full vorn, and she had been his first.

His first and his last. He's had no lovers since her. He dated a few more femmes, but hadn't fragged them.

Sari is the first he's considering trying with. He knew the others wouldn't last.

She kisses him softly, "Innocent is okay." She smiles, leaning against him, "Besides, I want my first time to be on a berth."

He... had not realized she was a virgin. It makes sense, though. She is a techno-organic that has been dodging all advances for the last decade, and is only twenty-two. She is so very young, and is only considered an adult _because_ of her techno-organic status. If he had gone after her if she was a full bot ... he would be disgusted with himself.

A sparkling still held in arms, and only with a cube for an altmode. That is a violation and disgusting. He would never do such a thing.

While Sari... Sari is an adult, and very wonderful.

He's always been disgusted by the fact that some planets allow arranged bonds with sparklings. Even if the bots do not get into a relationship until they are adults, it is disgusting. The worst is when adult bots bond to sparklings, and help raise them up to serve as their berthwarmers and ideal mates. It happens far too often on the distant planets where Autobot control is lax.

She interrupts his thoughts with a kiss to his cheek. "Those are the washracks, right?" she points to a large building with a mural of sparklings splashing in a solvent pool.

He smiles, "Yes." He moves next to the doors, setting her down, "You are to the right, and I'm-"

She touches his face as he's leaning down, "I haven't been to one of these before. Do I pay for polish, or what?"

He smiles, pulling out a small bottle to give to her, "There. Use this. It is better than using the public polish. That always leaves streaks."

She smiles at him, then puts up her facemask, "I'll go get cleaned up, then. You'll com me when you're done, right?"

He nods, "Of course."

She vanishes into the femme side of the washrack, and he watches her go. She's so beautiful. He sighs and steps into the mech side, which is always more crowded. Elita-1 had dragged him into the femme side several times to show him off. Once to 'face there, when the other femmes hadn't believed that she was actually fragging him. Apparently, dating femmes without fragging them for several vorns worth of a femme every other stellar had left him with something of a reputation.

He walks onto the mech's side of the washracks, and gets to work cleaning the energon off of him. It has dried and gone sticky, but is _still_ so much better than the slime that covered him all this sol. He is not as filthy or uncomfortable as he was. Now he isn't burning or itching because of it, just feeling a little sticky. He knows that it could be so much worse.

He is glad that Sari cleaned the energon off of his optics, though. He would be severely hindered if she hadn't.

He washes semi-quickly, but not so fast that Sari can't have several conversations with all the femmes there. He wants her to be happy, and he knows that femmes like being with femmes, just like how mechs like being with mechs.

He makes sure to clean every bit of him, wanting to look good for her. By the time he's done, several breems have passed and he's feeling much better, and looking better too. He slips out of the washrack to wait for Sari, only to find her sitting in front of the building, arms crossed over her chest, expression petulant. Before he can ask what's wrong, she glares at him, "The femmes say you used to date a new femme every stellar cycle. Is that true?"

He sighs softly, wishing this hadn't happened. "Yes." He holds up a finger before she can start yelling, "But that does not mean I 'faced them all. They all broke up with me since I held firm on not 'facing the bot I'm dating before that first vorn."

She points at him, "_Every stellar cycle_? Really? Every single femme said that!"

He blinks, slightly confused why she's upset about _that_. It isn't unusual to have a new bot every stellar cycle if you are trying to find a bot you actually like. It is just a matter of working through who you want. It is most likely her wondering why _femmes_.

He kneels down, holding out his servos carefully next to hers, "I would not have gone out with them if they had not wanted me, Sari. I was not just using and leaving them. I am not _Volks_, for Primus's sake."

She just stares at him, and then sighs, "Yeah. I guess." She looks away, her cheeks flushed pink, "I . . I'm just sorta jealous, I guess. You know. They got you, and . . well, I wish they hadn't. I kinda want you all for myself."

It's sweet that she feels that way for him. He's never had a bot like that before. Even Elita-1 was mostly interested in him for other reasons, and if he'd been willing, she would have shared him with other bots. Other femmes.

He hadn't wanted that at all.

He kisses Sari on her facemask, "Well, you _have_ me all to yourself. I won't go after anyone else as long as I have you. You won't have to worry about that at all. No one else will draw my optics away from you."

She laughs softly, moving into his servos, "If you say so."

He picks her up, holding her in his arms, "Shall I drop you back at your place after we get the crystals?"

She leans against him as he starts to walk, "I don't know. I'll see if I think I'll need your help." Her fingers brush against his sides, "Or I could spend the night with you? Just recharging in the same berth?"

Heat rushes to his spark at the thought of her beside him, and he knows he cannot be chaste with her, not when he hasn't even adapted to her touch yet. "Not yet." In a stellar cycle or so, he'd be used to her, and they could share a berth without him worrying about accidental nightly charges.

Sari makes a sad sound, "Maybe I could recharge on your couch or something? I'd like to see where you live. I bet you've got a nice crystal growing in there or something."

He pets her side, "I live in an apartment, Sari. I don't even have crystal in a pot." He taps her facemask, "And if anyone was going to recharge on the couch while you were at my apartment, it would be me." He is a gentlemech, and he would not force her to recharge on something so very uncomfortable.

She leans on him, "We can both use a crystal kit, then. I want to have us do this together."

He is so happy she wants them to have something that will grow with their relationship, something that will show how time has passed. "If that's what you want, I am more than willing."

"I do." She points forwards, "Onwards, noble steed. You have to take me to the crystal shop so we can pick out kits for each other. I'll pick a crystal for you to grow, and you pick one for me. Maybe they have stuff that can be transplanted later on, so we can put them in a pot together some day."

His spark tingles a bit, "I'd like that." It was something bots did when they got bonded. He likes the idea that she's thinking of a bond, even if he's not sure she's aware that is what it means.

She giggles happily, kissing him just above his sparkplates, "Good, since I wasn't giving you the option of saying no."

His spark heats a little at that, since she will _certainly_ be bonding with him because of this. He has been wanting a bond for a very long time, and now he's pretty sure he's finally found a femme willing. Elita-1 was willing to bond, but then everything happened.

He won't let that happen to her. He's promised to keep her safe, and that is exactly what he'll do. He won't pay attention to _Optimus_ and his mistakes again. She'll never be left to offline alone and in pain just because Optimus was too much of a coward to let him save her.

He pushes that thought aside and carries Sari into the crystal garden shop, cradling her protectively in his arms. The shop is nicely decorated, with potted crystals and hanging crystals decorating the shelves. There are a few very expensive examples of Vosian floating crystals behind the counter, out of reach of customers. They hover over their pots, rotating slowly as a gentle breeze blows through the shop, sending a batch of singing crystals into a soft chiming song.

Sari gasps in amazement at it all, and he smiles, "Let's start with something simple." He sees how she is looking at the harder to grow ones, and realizes how terrible of an idea it is to use them for something they are just starting out on. "Let's get a yellow crystal."

She looks at him, smiling, "And blue?"

It warms his spark to think that she wants to match him, too. "If that's what you want."

She nuzzles him, "I do."

The bot behind the counter smiles at them warmly, "Looking for compatible crystals?" At Sentinel's almost shy nod, the bot points to a shelf, "The ones there will grow alone and with each other, when you're ready to plant them together. They're good for beginners as well."

Sari climbs up on the countertop and studies the large boxes, which claim to have all a bot needs to grow various crystals in decorative pots. "They're pretty." She tugs a box forward that has a long, slender blue crystal on the cover picture, in a pot painted green and yellow. "I like this one."

He looks at it, not surprised that the crystals match his paint. "Should I choose the one I'm giving to you next, then?"

She nods, moving a bit to kiss his faceplates, "Yes. Then we can set them up together."

He looks through the boxes, settling on one that is yellow, and has tiny little blue dots on them. He can tell they aren't very popular since there seem to be about twice as many boxes of this than the others. Which is understandable. The blue dots are _exactly_ the same color as Sari's blue paint.

Like a spark.

It's a filthy sort of gift, but also very beautiful, and very much suited to her. She looks at it, "I like that one too. Looks like my armor." She touches the box, "But the pot is kinda ugly. I think I might have to paint it myself."

He has to admit that the container for it is a rather strange, mottled pink and purple not really suited to the yellow crystal within. "We can get some paint for you."

The bot behind the counter nods, "We have paints that are suited for them over there, next to the crystal mulch."

He picks Sari up, carrying her to the paints as he murmurs a soft thanks to the bot. He sets her carefully down, and lets her pick through the paints. She hums softly, and pulls out a few various colors. "I think these."

He smiles at the blue paint, several shades, "If that is what you think is best. I am more than willing to get it. How about a little yellow, as well? To draw out the yellow of the crystals."

She nods, picking out that as well. "There?"

He rubs her side, "Anything else?"

"No. I think this is good for now." They take the boxes and paints to the counter, and Sentinel pays for them, trying not to blush at the knowing looks of the bot working there.

"You know," the mech says casually, "they say that a couple that chooses their crystals in their partner's armor colors is more likely to have blessed sparklings some sol." The mech tucks something into each kit. "I wish you both the best of luck."

Sentinel flushes and mumbles something in thanks, adding a tip to the mech's pad before rushing out.

Sari pokes into one of the kits and pulls out a smooth, blue stone that has Sentinel stuttering more when she asks what it is. How is he supposed to explain that the old bot just gave them fertility charms?

He blushes brightly when she touches it to his chest, "What is it?"

He moves it gently away, "It... it.. It helps with... Sparklings. With-"

She blinks, "... Are you supposed to put it in your sparkchamber?"

He wants to take off, run from the uncomfortable conversation, but he realizes this is sort of something he would _need_ to answer. Better than asking the team she considers uncles. "N-no. Not unless you're _really_ desperate to have sparklings. You... You are the Allspark's sparkling. We... if we... if we want sparklings, we would not have to do that. If worst comes to worst, I am high enough up that we can just go to see the Allspark to get a blessing. Not have to deal with long, formal inquiries to get near it."

"It shouldn't take that much work to see it. I bet the stupid rock gets lonely."

It was not a 'stupid rock' and there were bots whose entire purpose was to keep it polished and warm, ready to offer its blessings to those bots ruled worthy of seeing it. Even as it is now, jagged and incomplete. Kept in a matrix to keep it stable.

"We are not to judge, Sari. It is how it has always been done. If the Allspark did not like it, then I suspect it would let us all know in some catastrophic way."

She moves up, kissing him, "Well, we won't have to go visit it anytime soon." Her fingers brush his faceplates, "Take me to your place so that we can make the kits. I want to set them up."

He smiles, transforming down, and putting her in as he does so. "You won't be recharging at my place-"

She rubs his steering wheel, "We'll see. I have my cushions and blankets with me. I can sleep on your couch and not be uncomfortable. I'd like to wake up to you there." She looks down, leaning against his door, "I won't feel so lonely, then."

"You live in a ninjabot neighborhood, but you feel lonely? I would have thought you were used to bots popping in and sharing your berth with you. Even platonically. They're known for . . . cuddling."

Sari makes a face, "They leave me alone, mostly. Something about the cover story Optimus and the bots have for me. Something about Decepticon experiments with the Allspark shards. I don't mind privacy, but . . frag, it gets lonely there. I'm not used to living on my own. Not really. There's always been _someone_ a room away."

He rubs her back, "Well, if you truly want to, yes. Just realize that it is better not to do this all the time. I am more than willing to have you with me, but we shouldn't be rushing this." He squeezes the seatbelt around her, "I want it to last. I want us to be together for a very long time."

She gives him a shy look, "I... I'd like that." Her fingers toy with the armrest on his door, flicking the switch to lock and unlock him, "So... will... will you make me breakfast when I wake up?"

He flicks his windshield wipers, revving his engine a bit "Yes. You'll like it quite a bit." He can make her whipped energon, and she should love it.

It will be even better than what his cousins had created. Sentinel's always had the knack for it. When he's made it for other bots in the past, several had offered immediate bonding requests. Optimus had declared his glossa eternally worshipped him and had promised devotion if he agreed to make it every sol for him. Of course, Optimus was a liarbot and Sentinel didn't want a mech's devotion. He's already tried to bribe Optimus into stepping down as Magnus.

It did not work.

She rubs her delicate fingers over his door, "I wish that the date at your family's restaurant had turned out better. They shouldn't treat you like that. It isn't right."

He laughs softly, "It doesn't matter, Sari. I'm used to-"

She taps him sharply, "You'll be bringing up charges against them. The only reason I'm not saying do it right now is because it will be more effective if we have it come from Autobot Headquarters, rather than just the Autotroopers."

Sentinel has no real intention of drawing the public optic to his family drama. Bad enough that he's hated by the bots that should care about him. He does not want the _media_ reporting on it, and they _will_ if he files. But Sari will forget about it eventually. He'll go about it the longest, slowest way possible, with files going through all the correct agencies until she forgets and he can drop the charges. His family will hate him even more for it, but there's not much he can do. If he's lucky, they'll at least act a bit more cordial to him.

She rubs his lockswitch on his door, "They should know better than to do what they did. I'll be telling Optimus not to fuel there, as well."

He shudders, "Please don't. I don't want to have him demand I make him whipped energon all the time. There's a _reason_ he goes there."

She frowns at him, optics narrowing to show that, "He can make his own damn whipped energon. He's not going to make you do it."

He wonders if jealousy is prompting that as well. He decides to test it, "You know, Optimus promised to bond with me once, if I made him whipped energon every sol."

Sari hisses, digging claws into his steering wheel, "Well, you won't have to worry about that, will you? He's obviously not going to fuel on energon from you ever again. I mean," she relaxes her grip, but her voice is tight, "you can make it for me instead."

He smiles to himself, "Of course. I was planning on doing that in the morning already. If you want, I can start making it in my office, and we can fuel together during lunch." That way she won't keep trying to have a date every sol, but they will still have time together with no one else. It would be a good time to get to know each other.

She rubs his window, "Yes. I'd like that a lot."

Sentinel used to frown on office lunch gatherings, or bots with their significant others at work, but he supposes he can learn to let it slide. Now that he has Sari to entertain. He'll still be very professional, of course. No goofing off after the lunch break is over. He won't take Sari over his desk until she's tired and her spark is sore, frame covered in his paint. Not like some of the bots he's walked in on.

She presses her facemask to his window, a faux kiss, "How much longer?"

He feels warm from the kiss still, even if it isn't nearly as ... involved as some of their earlier ones. "Not very much. we're almost there. I'll have to carry you up, since it doesn't actually have a ramp to my apartment. Only stairs."

She tilts her head, "Any reason why?"

He smiles, "It is a smaller building. I had it before I was Magnus, and now I'm back to it. I'm just.. used to it, I guess."

"Cool." She says no more on the subject, reaching over to pet various parts of his interior. He shivers, enjoying the way her servos feel on him. Her tiny fingers, which have points only if she angles them the right way, and then they feel like the sharpest little blades.

"You said you had energy blade weapons?" he asks, trying to distract himself from the thought of those servos on his spark. "Will you show me later?"

"Yeah," she sighs, "I'm still not great at using them, though." She perks up, "But I can use a keyboard really well. I'll show you." She spreads her fingers, and it segments out, "See?"

He feels more than a little ill, "Those... Sari, those are _hacking_ cables in your fingers." He feels faint. "How.. how long have you had them?"

She shrugs, "When I got my upgrade? I mean, it feels like they've always been there." She frowns, "And what do you mean hacking? I just use them to type really fast."

He is glad they're at his apartment building. He opens his door for her to get out, "They have little hookups in them to connect to another bot, Sari. That isn't something you want to show off."

"Why not? Ratchet and the other bots never said there was anything weird about them, and they saw me use them a lot." She wiggles them again, and rubs them over his paneling. "I take it that hacking is a bad thing?"

He feels gentle sparks of charge crackle against his plating, "Yes. Mostly. There are a few bots known to enjoy being force-hacked. Shockwave is the most notable of them." The mech apparently loved having Megatron hack him into submission. Not that Megatron ever needed to.

He picks her up after transforming, cradling her in his arms. She nuzzles him lovingly, "I don't plan on hacking anyone." Her fingers start to go back to normal, only to pause while he starts to walk, "Unless... you want me to-"

"No. Absolutely not." Maybe if they have been together for long enough, but _not_ anytime soon. He is not willing to deal with the violation that hacking is. Taking apart his defenses and showing him how badly he's put together. He won't do it.

"Alright, that's cool. No hacking." Her fingers shift completely back to normal. "I can dig that, as Jazz would say." She pats his chest, "It's not like I'd have any idea what I was doing anyways."

Sentinel was not prepared to be hacked. It had . . it had been one of the optional classes at the Academy, and he'd turned it down. Optimus had gone, and Sentinel still remembers how broken up the mech had been each night he'd come back from class. From having his defenses hacked apart so he could learn to withstand it better. It was barbaric, but . . in war time, necessary. They hadn't been at war then.

She nuzzles against him, then looks up at him shyly, "I know you saw me looking at the crystals. Will we add more to our pots later? I'd like one of the pretty twirly ones to be put in."

He tries to think of what she means, then he widens his optics when he realizes, "Oh, yes. The spiral miribalis. I suppose that would work. We could put them on later, when you know how to do the current crystals."

She tilts her head, "How long does it take to grow a crystal?"

He rubs her back, "About a vorn for a normal one to get firmly established. The kits will have it done in a decade, since they are meant to go faster. The ones you want to add need a decavorn."

"Oh." She scuffs a ped on the ground when he lets go of her for a moment, trying to get his security pad to recognize him and let him inside. It's been glitching lately, and he has to enter a manual override code to get in. He'll have to have a bot come repair it later.

He carries Sari in and frowns at the readouts on his console near the door. Twenty unauthorized access attempts while he was away. Who the frag had tried to break into his home?

She kisses him, distracting him wonderfully, since she has her facemask down again. "Let's go make the crystal kits?"

He smiles, kissing her with his glossa flicking against hers. "Yes, of course. Is there anything else you think we should do?" He heads up the stairs, fingers pressed against her seams to encourage her to say what he wants.

She blushes prettily, moving into his touch, "I... I think you know what I'll suggest." She catches his fingers, kissing them, "I'd like it if you were laying under me, though. Is that okay?"

"It will be difficult to work on the kits that way," he points out, and Sari sticks her glossa out at him.

"Oh, frag off. I want you sprawled out under me. I can use your big, strong chest like a table." She pats the plates, "Nice working area for me here. So broad." Her servos slip over his plating and he groans softly, her touch igniting pleasure in him, spark pulsing.

He moves faster, venting harsh as she teases him. "If you want to, I suppose you could. It would be easier if we actually use a ta-"

She rubs her little chestplates against his, optics dim, "I like the idea of you laying under me. You won't let me 'face you, but I want to be able to just lay on top of you and kiss you whenever I want." Her fingers toy with his sparkplate seams, "You'll let me do that, won't you?"

He blushes, glad that he's at his apartment, and heads in, locking it up again, "Y-yes."

There are fifty messages on his console, all from Optimus and Sari's team-he only reads the one sent from Optimus's Magnus frequency, and ignores the rest. When it's just a note warning him to be on time for the meeting tomorrow, he safely sets it aside. The rest are likely threats. Warnings. _Stay away from Sari_ type warnings.

He sighs.

Sari kisses him, glossa flicking in before pulling away, "Let's set up."

He smiles, setting her down. "Of course." He has all night with her, and it is only going to get better. _She_ wants him, and it doesn't matter if Optimus and his team hate him. She's all that matters.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>He onlines easily, sitting up in his berth. He isn't exactly sure how Sari managed to convince him this is what he should be doing, but he accepted it. She <em>did<em> look perfectly comfortable on top of that cushion she brought, and the thick blanket.

Even if she _is_ in her organic frame at the moment.

He's glad he knows that's how she recharges, or he would have freaked out the first time they shared the berth. He's certain he can prepare for it now.

Getting up, he walks out of his berthroom, and cautiously walks over to the couch. Sitting down, he carefully runs his servo over Sari's recharging frame, unsure how she'll react.

She presses up into his servo, and . . her frame is so soft that Sentinel can't help but pet her like she was an expensive, exotic turbofox. Sari blinks and shifts under his fingers, her lips curving into a smile. "Hey," she says softly, rubbing at her organic optics. "Did you sleep . . recharge well?"

He keeps petting her, feeling her soft, smooth organic plating. "I did. I hope your recharge was as good as mine was."

She pushes into him, moving so he rubs her a little harder, "I dunno. I slept well." She takes his servo, touching it. "I like that you don't mind me like this."

Of course he doesn't, she's so much better than those terrible spiders or the tenctons. Sure, she freaks him out a bit, but she's slightly soft, and not slimy. "You're lovely." He hopes she doesn't kiss him and shove her gross glossa in his mouth again, though.

She lets out a happy sigh, "Thank you. You're incredibly handsome." She pets his helmet, "You were going to make me breakfast, weren't you?"

"I was. I assumed you would want to watch." He lifts her and places her on the countertop of his small kitchen area, spreading her soft, organic fiber blanket out under her, so she can stay in her organic frame if she likes. He hopes she does. She's intriguing this way. So very intriguing.

"I do." She lays back, her organic optics half-closed, as if she's tired. "What are you gonna make?"

He touches her frame, avoiding the lumps on her chest, "Whipped energon. Just for you."

She lays her head on her arm as she stretches out on the blanket, "Okay. I'd like that. Will you be using that high grade I like?"

"And the additive. You like how it tastes, and-"

"We can try it without the additive. It looked like you didn't really enjoy it. I want to see how well it tastes without it."

He's glad of that, since it will mean that he won't have to buy the expensive additive for her all the time if she likes it more like this. He can put in the extra effort for her.

It's not as if she's _actually_ allergic to energon, after all.

He whips it slowly, steadily, the way a good whip is done. Not with the frenetic, wild energy that most bots prepare it with, but with a steady servo that gently coaxes the energon into soft, fluffy peaks. He works on it for a while, until Sari whines at him. "Hurry up. You've been mixing that forever now. Like, for an hour."

It's been less than a breem.

He continues to work on it, "If I hurry, it won't taste nearly as good. I had thought you wanted to taste what made Optimus want to bond with me."

She scowls, "You _won't_ bond with him. You aren't giving him any of the whipped energon, either. He's not allowed to-"

He kisses her, a quick press of their mouths that he moves away from quickly so that she can't stick her glossa in. "He won't, Sari. He won't. Just don't be surprised if he tries to demand I make it for him because you told him he's no longer allowed to fuel at my family's energon shop."

"He can get it somewhere else."

A smile, "Not as good as this." He sets the cube in front of her when he's finished. "Try it."

She stares at it suspiciously, and then dips a finger into it, licking the whip straight from her organic plating. "Bleh." She makes a face and suddenly shifts into her armored body, and tries it again. "Mm. Oh, god. It's so much better this way."

He gives her a rightly smug look, "It is the best whipped energon you will get _anywhere_. I can't cook much else, but no one can match my whipped energon." He watches as her optics as they dim with pleasure while she eats. "Want me to get you some crystals?"

She makes a tiny, pleased sound, and nods. "Yeah. What would be good with this? I don't know these things, since I only just started eating these things with you here to show me. I haven't-"

He walks over to one of his cupboards, pulling down a single crystal that he thinks she'll like. "Try this. It is an Ember crystal. See how the red swirls in the center around the purple? That means that it is slightly spicy crystal of this type."

She licks it, and then takes a bit into her mouth, crushing it up with her gears. "Mm. . . oh yeah, kinda spicy." She sips more of the whipped energon, "Frag. This is so good. I don't know why they didn't show me all these fuels. I've been working on organic fuels and sparkling energon when I can stand it for the past ten years. Stellar cycles." She moans softly, licking her lips before giving him a dim-opticked look. "My spark is hot."

He shakes his head, "I'm not 'facing you. I told you this. I want it to last."

She pouts at him, "But I want you _now_. I've never wanted anyone else. You feed me all these good things, and get me all hot, then you pull away and say no." She moves, rubbing against him, "Why won't you do something about it?"

He kisses her head, "Because it is better to wait." He rubs her side, "You have barely lived very long at all, and you want me to make a decision in an instant. I like to wait a vorn before we 'face. What if you suddenly decide I'm terrible, and hate that I decided to break my vorn and just use your spark? It is best to wait until we both know each other very well."

"People fuck all the time without permanently fucking things up." She shifts uncomfortably, and then makes a strange face, "Aw, frag. I'm gonna have to self-service, aren't I? I don't even know how to do that. I've never touched myself in this frame before. It's gonna be all weird."

Sentinel stares at her, his spark pounding with sudden want. His femme has not even . . touched her own spark? Oh, Primus. He wants to ease her onto a berth and show her what she's been missing. He stops himself.

Just barely.

She squirms, "I need to go to.."

He carefully picks her up, "I can take you to the washrack, and you can sit in the solvents to do this. You're small enough that I could fill up a small tub with the solvents from the spray."

She squirms in his arms, rubbing against him. "Could..." She turns her head, "Never mind. I'm sure you won't."

He holds her gently, walking to the washrack, "What?"

She shakes her head, blushing lightly, "You.. You won't-" She looks down, "You ... I'd like it if..." She sighs softly, "I'd want you to be with me as I do this, so I can look at you. But I know you won't. It's okay."

His venting hitches. "I . . . sometime. Not yet, Sari. It's too soon." He rubs her shoulder gently. "I'm sorry."

She shrugs, "It's okay. I'd like you to watch me rub my spark, but I don't expect it. I'll figure it out on my own." Sometimes he wishes he wasn't such an honorable mech. If he was truly the monster that her friends think he is, he would take advantage of her now. Instead, he's dropping her off for a self-service he will not witness.

That he desperately wishes he could witness.

He puts her down outside of the washrack, and she pauses at the door, "You said you'd put solvents in a tub for me?"

He did, and he so _very_ wishes he wasn't doing this. It is like she's trying so hard to tempt him, and he has to force himself not to give in. He wants to pull her into his berth and show her just how wonderful a servo or glossa on the spark can be.

"Of course, Sari." He walks in, going to one of the shelves he has up, and pulls down the little tub he uses to do washing in other parts of his apartment. It is big enough for her to sit in comfortably, even if she won't be able to stretch out completely. "Would you like bubbles in it?"

"Yeah." She smiles at him. "That'd be nice." She's quiet as he fills it with solvent, adding a cleanser that makes lovely, sudsy bubbles. "I'm sorry for pushing you. I really don't mean to. You've got to remember that I'm part organic. I'm used to having to rush. Waiting so long is foreign to me."

He relaxes a bit, "It's alright. We both have to adapt. I . . may be willing to reconsider our relationship in less than a full vorn."

She rubs her sparkplates, fingers rubbing at the seams in a distracting way, "Are... Are you going to..." She bites her lower lip, unwilling to go on.

He kisses the top of her head, "I'll leave you be. You have fun." He pauses, then says, "I... I have a file on interfacing and self-service. Would you like that?"

She blushes brightly, "I.. Are you really? I mean, I..." She squirms, "Y-yes. Give it to me." She flashes him a grin filled with gear dente, "I'd like it with pictures of you, but..." She trails off, still grinning, but now he sees how predatory her optics are. Like she'd like little more than to shove him down and use him.

She is honest about wanting those pictures of him. Preferably ones of him with his spark exposed and him looking like he just wants her to climb on and use him.

He took images like that of himself for Elita, a long, long time ago. He adds a few of them to the file and sends it to her, cheeks flushed as he leaves the room. He'll work on reports while she . . entertains herself in the bath.

He tries not to think of her slick, yellow frame writhing, solvents washing over it, rushing into her sparkchamber to lap against her spark like an eager lover's glossa. His own spark pounds with want.

He grabs the reports from his subspace, forcing himself to focus.

* * *

><p>He kisses Sari gently as they part ways at the Autobot Headquarters. He needs to hurry to that meeting that was scheduled to start about three breems ago. He had meant to hurry, but Sari had wanted to feed him energon, and she wanted to finish eating the crystal he gave her. He can't deny her something so simple. She always looks so happy when she eats crystals. Like she's never had something so delicious, and <em>he<em> is the one that helped her with it. No one else.

He wishes he could keep her with him as he did this, hold her in his lap and cuddle her to keep her safe, but that would be considered an abuse of power. He wouldn't _make_ her stay there, unlike how some of the councilbots or other bots in the past have.

He wouldn't overload her like a lapbot. She'd just be with him so he knows where she is, and so very safe.

Well, he wouldn't overload her like a lapbot often. She seems like the kind of bot who'd like to be overloaded that way sometimes, during pretend games. He's all for the occasional role-play. Let no bot say that Sentinel Prime is a stick in the mud. He knows how to be exciting in the berth.

Sentinel's desk is heaped high with datapads, and he rubs at his optics. If the bots have been padding their reports with fluff again, he's going to have to bash a few helms in.

He considers just... skipping the meeting. Claim he never got the message, and just forgot. It isn't like Optimus hasn't done that. Repeatedly. He could claim that and get some work done. He knows it wouldn't be so bad if he had been able to do this last sol instead of escorting the Tenctons. He could have just done his work, and he'd be able to fix any problem before it started. But Optimus seems to think that trying to be with Sari means he needs to learn a lesson.

Even if that lesson is 'I'm the one in power, and not you. You will do what I say or else.' Which is a terrible lesson to give anyone at all. He never had that sort of power tripping done. It was just keeping the populous safe from Decepticons.

Though some claimed he abused his authority.

He'd only done everything to keep his people safe from harm. To keep the Decepticons from taking control from a weak, easily manipulated leader.

Like Optimus.

It was only a matter of time before he was in control again. Bots would realize that he deserved it more.

Sentinel sits at his desk and starts sorting through the pads, intent on making some dent in the mess, because he's already late for the meeting. There's no point in going halfway. The policy has always been that anything more than one breem late was too late to join.

He starts to work, glad that almost everyone seems to have realized he was completely serious when he said that he was fine with just a few bullet points of what they are doing. There are a few that don't, but those datapads are set to the side, and will be read when he's done with this mess. He will yell at them later. It is _possible_ that one of them genuinely needs the several paragraphs to explain things.

He has had reports that were as concise as possible, but still needed several hundred screens to get through everything. It was frustrating, but absolutely needed for him to understand what was going on in that project.

He knows more about spacebridges and how they needed to be repaired than he had ever thought necessary, but it was better to know than to be ignorant when it comes falling down around everyone.

He also knows more about Perceptor and Wheeljack's pet projects than he'd really like to, and _those_ still make no sense to him, despite megacycle-long lectures from both bots. Well, Wheeljack's 'lecture' had been more of a bouncing, rambling, leap from topic to topic, with only occasional mentions of incorporating flight technology into the next generation of Cybertronians. At one point, Sentinel was certain that Wheeljack was propositioning him for a 'face, but with the sciencebots, it was so very hard to tell sometimes. It was equally as likely that the bot was simply telling him how the mods would affect 'facing with other bots.

He goes through the last of the bullet pointed datapads before picking up the longer ones. He sighs when he realizes that all of them are ones that went against what he told them to do. Standing up, he shoves them into his subspace. He's going to have _words_ with these glitches.

He can also talk to Perceptor, Cliffjumper, and Rodimus about going out on a double date with him and Sari. In fact, he can make it a blind double date. He sends a text to Sari about it, and she sends one back telling him that it would mean that Optimus and them would be less likely to run off for it. Which makes this so much easier.

He can tell Cliffjumper first, since that seems like the best idea. He needs to talk to the bot and reassure him they're still friends, anyway.

Cliff is sitting outside Optimus's office, because the little glitch still thinks he needs to act like a secretarybot even though he's head of intelligence and has two secretaries of his own, though Sentinel has never seen either of them. He's not entirely sure they actually work there, except that both bots _are_ still pulling salaries, so they must be doing something.

The red minibot offers him a wan little smile, "Sentinel. Come to pay a visit to the Magnus again?"

Sentinel shakes his head and rests a servo on Cliff's desk. "So, you want to tell me why you're acting like a secretarybot again?"

Cliffjumper scoffs at him, "I told you, I get-"

"Paid more to sit there, yes. But that doesn't mean that you _should_ be sitting there. You are constantly harassed by bots that seem to think that it is their right to bother you just because you sit there. You'll get more done if you use your office."

The mech snorts, looking tired, "No. I can do this. I'm fine how I am. I don't need to be in a place that's less busy. _You_ spend a lot of your time out of your office. On that desk you set up in the main area."

He nods, "But I also spend time in my own office if I need to be left alone to work. You should do the same thing. Just place one of your secretarybots-"

"No way. That means I'll be training them to _replace_ me. I'm not taking a pay cut to give away my job."

Sentinel stares at him. "You're not being paid to do secretary duties. Any extra credits you're making are for _overtime_ megacycles. Not because you're getting that overtime out here." He decides not to mention that 'Jumper was paid twice as much as other secretarybots because Longarm had insisted. Fragging traitor. Sentinel really should have realized what Longarm was when he'd asked for special rewards for Cliffjumper for doing tasks like 'picking 'pads up off the floor' and 'cleaning under my desk.'

If Cliffjumper wasn't so fanatical about the Autobot cause, he'd be more worried about the minibot working as head of intelligence. He knows he has nothing to worry about, since Perceptor himself ran several scans on Cliffjumper to make sure. The very fact that Cliff was _willing_ to do it was what made Sentinel trust him so much, rather than the scan itself.

Anything he did himself was something that made Sentinel more willing to trust others for doing. He put himself under that scan so he could prove it was safe. To prove that he wasn't Decepticon scum. To show _everyone_ that doing this would prove that there were no Decepticon sympathizers in the Autobot Headquarters.

He likes to think they appreciated that, but he has no way of knowing.

"I work here because the glitches headquarters keep giving me have no idea how to direct a call. They're pretty airheads with fluff for processors," Cliffjumper grumbles. "I need a bot that can transfer a call and keep my schedule done properly, and none of that slag can. So I do it myself. And I keep track of the Magnus's appointments and schedule. Take his calls for him. It's easy work. I could do it in my recharge." The mech frowns, "Probably have."

"There are plenty of intelligent bots who could do that work." His femme could, for instance. "Perhaps you would allow me to suggest several bots to serve under you?" He frowns, "Serve as your secretarybot. Not . . . under you."

Cliffjumper snorts, "I don't frag my staff."

Which means he is much more willing to let Sari see if she can do the work. "Do you want me to have a list of bots for you? I can make one up, and have it for you by lunch." Earlier, really. he doesn't want to cut into his time with Sari for lunch.

Cliffjumper frowns at him, then nods. "Fine. I'll see who I like, and deal with it as I go."

He smiles, "Now, I wanted to ask you something that has _nothing_ to do with this or work or anything. Just... as a friend-"

"I'm not lending you any money, Sentinel."

He frowns, "I... I've never asked you for money. Why would you-"

Cliffjumper rubs his optics, "Sorry. I'm just used to bots coming up and acting buddy-buddy before trying to get me to lend them credits. What was it you wanted?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing." He taps his fingers on his thigh plating nervously, "And ask you out on-"

"Frag no, Sentinel. I know you're dating that little femme. I'm not getting in on that. If you want to break up with her already, you're gonna use some other bot to do it. I'm not pissing the Magnus's daughter off."

He blinks. "She's not his daughter."

Cliffjumper snorts, "Have you seen the way he acts with her? She's his adopted daughter at least."

He nods, "Yes, that I can accept." He taps his fingers on the desk, "But that isn't what I was going to say. I'm very _happy_ with her, and wouldn't think of doing that to her." He smiles a bit, "I was going to ask you if you wanted to go on a double-date with me and her. We have a bot in mind for you to be with, but we still need ask him if he wants to."

Cliffjumper's optics narrow, "If this is a blind date with Bumblebee since he's a minibot, I'm _not_ going to be happy."

He shakes his head, "I _promise_ it isn't with Bumblebee. He wasn't who we were planning at all." They're going to be having him with Bulkhead, after all. He's fairly sure they'll get along. It won't hurt them to try a single date, anyway.

He's not entirely certain. He doesn't know much about Optimus's team, other than that they're all glitchheads to some extent or another. They'd lost their teammate and drawn closer together over it, but they're still glitches. And pains in the aft who don't want him dating Sari.

"Fine. I'll agree to one double-date with this mystery bot. But _you_ are paying for the energon. I'm not wasting credits on something that might turn out to be awful."

He smiles widely, "I'm willing to do that. I'll tell Sari that you-"

He's cut off by the sudden stomping coming from behind him, and when he turns to look, Optimus is there like an angry storm cloud. The mech bears down on him, glaring, "What is this about picking out _crystals_ with Sari?" The mech glares up at him, "What do you think you're doing with her?"

He blinks at Optimus, wondering why this is happening in the lobby. This is something you keep behind closed doors, since it rarely looks good. Unless Optimus's aim is to humiliate him, there is no reason for this at all. "I'm... dating her, Optimus Magnus," he says slowly, as if to a particularly dim sparkling.

"Yes. And you purchased matching _crystals_ with her and then took her to your apartment where you refused all com attempts for the night. And you missed your meeting this morning." Optimus looks dangerously close to shoving Sentinel down and beating him to offline for daring to do this with his adopted sparkling. "I want an explanation, Sentinel."

Sentinel Prime stiffens, "I do not have to give you one, sir. What goes on between Sari and I is private, and as it does not threaten Autobot security, it is none of your business."

Optimus presses closer, optics ablaze, "This is _not_ about that. It is about you being with Sari, and being ready to break her spark just because you want to use her. You are acting like you want to bond with her and-"

"Did it occur to you that I am acting like I want to bond to her because I _do_? We got a blessing from Primus, and I-"

"What?" It is said in stereo, and it takes a moment for him to realize that it came from Optimus and several other bots that have come to watch this happening.

He rubs his optics tiredly, "Yes, blessing from Primus. There is an altar, and we went to it. The blessing only happens if you find it first try, and we did. We're supposed to be able to stay together forever because of it."

"You took her to a temple of Primus?" Optimus asks, sounding completely strangled, like some bot is stepping on his vocal processor.

"No. There was a maze. In a crystal garden. We found our way to the center of it together and got a blessing from the statue and altar there. She did not seem as impressed with it as I think she would have been, if she'd been raised with Primus as her god."

Optimus crosses his arms over his chest, "I taught her about Primus. And the Allspark." He hunches in on himself, "It was hard teaching her. She has little common reference with us."

He reaches over cautiously, patting his side, "It isn't your fault. She wasn't found by you or the others until she was older. She is a proper bot, though. She tries very hard, and does very well." He read some reports of how she does at work, and she could easily do harder things. She would do better as more than a glorified datapad runner, and he's certain Optimus knows it but isn't willing to let her go.

Optimus gives him a dirty look, "Her creator-"

"Yes, he did very well with what he could, but he wasn't..." He doesn't want to say any more, not knowing what he is allowed to say in such a public place. "We should talk in private."

Optimus stiffens and gestures at his office, "Be my guest. There is _much_ for us to discuss, Sentinel Prime. We can start with why you never showed up at the meeting this morning. It was _important_ that you be there. We are starting negotiations with a previously Decepticon-allied planet, and you chose to . . to . . ," he vents harshly, "do unspeakable things with Sari instead."

He rolls his optics as they walk to the office, "I did no such thing. You know my rule about 'facing a bot I'm dating, Optimus. Besides, I remember _you_ asking to bond to me more than a few times, and me turning you down repeatedly."

Optimus closes the door, giving him a dirty look, "That was because you made whipped energon, and you know it. It has nothing to do with the fact that you... you..."

"I did _nothing_ to Sari. She told me she was lonely when she goes home to the ninjabot neighborhood, and wanted to recharge at my place. She had a cushion and an organic fiber blanket that she used for the night on the couch."

"You expect me to believe that, Sentinel? You allowed her to recharge like an organic on your couch? Your feelings about organics and Decepticons are well-known. I do not believe that-"

"She's not a 'Con, and she's decent for an organic." Sentinel cuts Optimus off before he can begin again, "I like her, Optimus. She's sweet. I'm not trying to break her spark, but if you keep trying to separate us, you might manage it. Were you ever planning on letting her date?" He drops his voice into something colder, "Did you know she didn't even know how to fuel on crystals?"

"She broke an entire gear off when she tried. We decided it was best to-"

"She said she was fueling on the fuels from Earth and _sparkling_ energon." He gives Optimus a dark look, "She has been starving for the last ten stellar cycles, and you never bothered to teach her to eat slower or to use crushed crystals. She could have starved to offlining, and you wouldn't have been able to keep her safe."

Optimus stares at him, "She's actually eating the crystals now?"

"Yes. She had a few this morning, when I made breakfast for her." Sentinel is smug, because he's helped Sari learn this when her companions failed her. He deserves her. The fragging Magnus couldn't figure out how to get her to fuel, but Sentinel did in a single evening.

"Oh." Optimus sits at his desk and stares at his servos for a klik, and then scowls once more, "You will not have her spend the night at your apartment. It is scandalous."

"Spending the night with a femme is scandalous? When I am well known to not 'face anyone before a vorn is up? I don't see what-"

"You will _not_ have her over at your apartment overnight again. Do you want me to make this into an order as your Magnus? I am more than willing t-"

"That is an abuse of your power, and you know it. I don't have to do this. It-"

"I could order you to stay completely away from her as a matter of security. You were dangerously close to exposing her secret, and I can have you yanked from her for it."

"I was not," he protests, because he won't put his femme at risk. He knows how most bots will react if they know she's part organic. Organics are not treated well here, although fraggin' Alpha Trion will still try to get her in the berth. Pervbot. He's terrible. "I would never expose her secrets. When she is unhappy, I feel unhappy as well."

Optimus gives him a flat look, "I doubt it." The mech points at him, "You will _not_ have her recharge at your place again. And I'll be talking to her about blocking our com calls." The bot gives him an angry look, "And you may start being called as well. We will not allow this to happen ever again. Do you understand me?"

He glares, "Is this an order, then? You won't allow me to let her spend the night, even if nothing harmful is going on?"

Optimus glares back, "If you want it to be an order, then yes, it is. You won't be having her recharge at your place ever again."

Sentinel narrows his optics, "You have never interfered in your Prime's lives like this before, Optimus. Is this some sign that you'll be instituting some of the older rules? Refusing your Primes the ability to have relationships with other bots so they can serve _you_ better? I would have never expected that of you of all mechs."

Optimus flushes with indignant heat, "I _never_! How dare you accuse me of that? I would never abuse my position that way you, you _aft_!"

He leans on the desk, holding himself up with his servos, "Then why are you ordering this? We did _nothing_ wrong! Nothing! I like her far too much to rush it, and you know this! Have I _ever_ broken my one vorn rule? We spent forever as roommates, and now you're acting like I brought femmes home every night to use their sparks!"

Optimus stands up, chair pushed away, "And none of _those_ were Sari! You won't be doing this! She's only twenty-two! A sparkling! And you do this!"

"She's an adult by organic standards! She tried to-" he cuts himself off, not willing to betray his femme by putting her . . behavior on record. She may have tried to seduce him, but he won't fault her for that. He's a handsome mech. All femmes try to seduce him at some point. The good ones-Elita and Sari-back off when he rejects their advances. "She is an adult, Optimus. Let her make her own decisions. You can't keep demanding she stay a sparkling forever when she so clearly isn't."

"She should be with a bot that won't break her spark. You always broke up with all those femmes. The only one that you didn't was _Elita-1_, and you still ended badly with her. You saw her, and said-"

"Elita died on that planet, and what took her place was nothing but a dirty Decepticon. If she had been Elita, I would have accepted her." It would have taken a bit, but he's getting used to _Sari's_ organic part, he could have done the same to Elita if she had still been Elita. "Blackarachnia is nothing but a Decepticon that stole her protoform and changed her armor."

"Elita is still there. She's just badly wounded." Optimus rubs his optics, "I can see her there. I still want to save her, if she is ever willing to take my servo and come back to our side. I expect you to accept her if she does, Sentinel. If you are rude, I _will_ have you exiled."

Of course he would. Optimus was a soft-spark that way, inviting Decepticons into his home without any concern about them turning traitor at the slightest chance.

"She won't accept your servo. She's nothing more than a 'Con, Optimus. You'll see." He feels tired, knowing that nothing he says will change Optimus's mind. At least he's willing to see reason, even if Optimus isn't. "You should talk to _Sari_ about how she feels about you banning her from spending the night with me. If you get her to agree to it, I will stop taking her to spend the night, but no sooner."

Optimus glares, but nods. "Fine."

He leans on the desk, "And what was the meeting I missed about?"

"You can read up on it yourself," Optimus says stiffly, his words a reprimand. "If you miss another meeting you are scheduled to attend without notifying me in advance, I will dock your pay and have you working a punishment detail for the next stellar cycle."

"I see." He nods and stands at attention, "If you are going to be this way, so be it, Optimus. I will not let you win if you make this into a competition."

"It isn't a competition. This is me telling you to do your job. You will-"

"Just like forcing me to escort organics that are _nothing_ like Sari to punish me is just part of my job? I have not had that in my description for vorns. I did it to show you I am more than willing to put aside any prejudice to be with her. You pulling rank does not make you look better, _sir_." He does hate how Optimus is Magnus now. Him doing petty slag like this just shows how bad of a leader he can be. Ultra Magnus never would have forced him to deal with Tenctons.

Optimus's optics narrow dangerously, "Are you angry about being the bot that is to serve as the communication link between us and them? It is an honored position."

And one that is nothing but an embarrassment for the bot holding it. There are no end of jokes being made when the bot doing this is working. He is highly tempted to do something drastic, like quit, but he knows that he can make it through this. He can take anything Optimus dishes out.

And a Prime cannot quit without his Magnus's permission, and he knows Optimus would not give it to him. Leaving him no choice but to become a traitor, and Sentinel is no traitor. "I am honored to be considered such a good ambassador for organic species," he grits out instead, before turning away, "If that is all, sir, I have work to get back to. You can discuss your demands with Sari."

He does not hear any orders to stay, so he leaves before Optimus can make any other outrageous demands of him.

He closes the door, and offlines his optics to take a soothing in-vet that he releases slowly. There is no need to take this anger out on bots that _don't_ need yelling at. He can save it up for the glitches that screwed up the reports of what they were doing.

Waving sharply at Cliffjumper, he stalks off.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>Sentinel pulls up to the entrance of the ninjabot neighborhood, opening up to let Sari in and taking off down the road. "Sorry about that, Sari. I would have been over earlier, but Perceptor didn't want to leave his lab for this. It took him a lot of convincing, but he should be at the restaurant in time. Wheeljack assured me that he was leaving."<p>

Sari frowns at him, "Perceptor? I thought you said that Rodimus was going to be Bee's date. Why are you changing that?"

He blinks. ". . . I thought Optimus was coming with us tonight."

She shakes her head, "No. Bee just commed to say he was already at the restaurant and was waiting for us to get there. He sounded kinda grumpy, honestly." She wiggles in his seat and pulls out some paints, adjusting his rearview mirror so she can put them on her face. "Sorry. I was running a bit behind so I didn't get time to put on the robot makeup I wanted to wear." She brushes a soft, glittering powder over her cheeks, and then slips her mask off long enough to paint red across her mouth.

Primus, she looks lovely. He would like nothing more than transform and kiss her. He just wishes they had time for him to do it. He hates running late.

"It isn't a problem, Sari. It isn't like I _need_ the mirrors."

She puts the makeup away, smiling at him, "I'm glad." Her facemask gets placed carefully back, not smearing anything. "We're going to have to fix the other two dates, though. Do you think that it would be better for Rodimus to be with Optimus, then?"

He shudders at that, "No. Absolutely not. He'll refuse, since that's like taking over the old laws and doing Magnus's rights." He doesn't want to shove it in the mech's face about what he said before. It would only end badly.

"The Magnus's rights are all about getting to bang Primes and Minors, right?" Sari makes a face, "It's stupid. I hope whoever he ends up with gives him a good frag. I think Optimus needs it to loosen up a bit. He's kind of a jerk sometimes, and maybe getting some would help."

Sentinel snorts, "Unlikely. He's even more old-fashioned than I am. If the bot doesn't promise him a long bonding ceremony and courtship, he's not going to give up so much as a kiss."

She presses her facemask to his door in a faux kiss, "Well, I guess he'll just be irritated that we set him up with his secretary, then. We won't put him with Rodimus."

That reminds him, "Has Cliffjumper contacted you about possibly working in his place?" He did give the minibot that datapad of names, but they were in alphabetical order. No need to show off that Sari was in the list.

She nods, "Yeah. I'm not sure what to do, though. I mean, I could try to do it if he wants me to, but I don't think it would be a good idea. It would be seen as nepotism from Optimus, even if Cliffjumper is the one that got me. It doesn't help that he told me _you_ gave him that list. From what Cliffjumper said, I seem to be the best person to ask. I'm not doing anything super important, and I'm essentially doing what needs to be done already, minus answering com calls.

"You would make an excellent secretarybot." And as for nepotism, well, it was a long and honored tradition to foster sparklings and young bots of the councilmembers' families in low positions in Autobot Command. There was nothing untoward about that. They took in an equal number of bots from families that were not highly ranked.

"Thanks." Sari snorts, "My dad's not gonna be thrilled though. I was supposed to work in his company, and now I'm gonna be a secretary."

"Lots of bots in Autobot Command worked as one. I did, in fact. Cliffjumper should have moved out of his desk before this, but never did. You would be very highly ranked." And he will be bonding with her. Her moving back to Earth when he will be Magnus is unthinkable. Even more when she will be having a high ranking job here on Cybertron because of this. She could easily move up in a few Decavorns. Already highly placed if she becomes the secretarybot of the Magnus.

She sighs sadly, "But I'm supposed to run my Dad's company. He built it from the ground, and now I'm abandoning it. It makes me feel terrible."

Sentinel gives her a squeeze with his seatbelts. "Plenty of bots run businesses on multiple worlds. Councilor Botanica runs her family's organic farming company remotely, only returning to see it in person once or twice a stellar cycle. If you like, I'm certain you could arrange something similar for your company. It would allow you to pull in extra funds, and perhaps set up . . . earth as an ally for our planet."

She snorts, "Doubtful. Very doubtful." She rubs his door, "But I'll see how it goes. Maybe it will work. Maybe not." She shrugs, looking slightly depressed, "Besides, if I live as long as I'm supposed to, I won't be able to return to Earth, anyway. I'll look wrong to them if I stay that long."

He has no clue what she's talking about. He imagines it is that evolution thing that Ratchet was rambling on in a side note on one of the reports. He can ask her later. "We're here." He opens his door to let her out, and transforms. "You go greet Bumblebee, and I'll com Perceptor to see where he is."

She nods, reaching up so he'll come down, and presses her facemask to his mouth in a kiss, "Okay. I'm sure Bee is freaking out, and I need to calm him down."

"Go, then." He watches her rush into the restaurant and scans the streets for Perceptor's truck alt. The mech shows up a few kliks later, puttering along at a leisurely pace before transforming up in front of him.

"I am still not certain why I agreed to this, Sentinel. I do hope you have not attempted to pair me with anyone foolish." The mech turns towards the entrance and Sentinel winces.

Bumblebee is certainly not . . science-minded.

He follows behind, "I'm sure he won't be." He doesn't actually think that. Bumblebee is impulsive and _very_ foolish. He hopes this doesn't turn out terrible, or they can shame the minibot into behaving. Possibly Sari is telling the mech to be on his best behavior.

Perceptor gives him an oddly expressive look, one filled with disbelief. "That is Elite Guard _Bumblebee_. You think he won't be foolish?"

He looks in, and sees Bumblebee sitting at the table with Sari, fiddling with some ruststicks. "I'm certain he'll be on his best behavior. And remember what I said, I just wanted you on my side for this. You don't have to do more than just this one date." He said that for Optimus, but it will work for Bumblebee as well.

Rodimus wouldn't take his side against Optimus, so that's another reason to use Cliffjumper.

Perceptor sighs, "Very well. I suppose he will provide a good charge this sol, if nothing else."

Sentinel flushes and chokes, unable to say anything in the face of that comment. Perceptor walks calmly over to the table and sits beside Bumblebee, allowing Sentinel to sit next to Sari. The minibot scowls at him across the table, "Hey. Just thought I'd start the evening off right by lettin' ya know that if you hurt Sari, you're gonna wake up to a pair of stingers shoved in your spark."

Sari kicks the minibot under the table, "Stop threatening my boyfriend with kinky things, Bee."

The minibot gives her a dirty look, rubbing the dent she left, "Not what I meant, and you know it. If he hurts you, I'll-"

"He _won't_ hurt me." She leans against him, holding him tightly, "He's not that kind of bot."

He smiles, kissing the top of her head, "I promised to keep her safe. Hurting her goes against that." He will be bonding with her, so that is that. In his mind, anyway. He wouldn't hurt his bonded to be. No matter what.

She nuzzles him, "Exactly.'

"Ugh, you guys are disgusting," Bumblebee mutters, and there's a sharp clang under the table and he hisses, staring at Perceptor in shock. "What'd you-"

Perceptor just stares at him blankly, and Bee falls silent, unsure of himself.

Sentinel wonders if the bot just hit him out of sight. Or if Sari had done it. It's hard to read the sciencebot most sols. Rubbing his hip, the minibot scowls and looks away, only to squeak suddenly, flushing with color. Sentinel risks a glance under the table and Perceptor's servo is buried in the bot's hip plating, fingers tugging at his wires and circuits.

He hopes he didn't make a mistake putting them together, but now he's a bit glad that they mixed it up. Perceptor doing this to Optimus is a sure way for everything to turn out horrible. He's fairly certain Bumblebee will be more than willing to follow Perceptor to the berth, while Optimus absolutely would not.

He rubs Sari's side, trying not to sigh. She moves her menu towards him so they can share, and he smiles. He has his own, but being close to his femme is just fine with him. "Will you be getting the crystal cube, Sari?"

She tilts her head, "Where is that?" He points it out, and she hums softly, "I don't know. I mean, you've only really been getting me energon with the crystals out of it. Will they be small enough or will they be too large? I don't want to break a gear again."

"Don't get it, Sari," Bumblebee says, his tone strangled, and only one of Perceptor's servos is visible above the table still. "Slag's always made of gross crystals. The ones that they can't sell on their own."

Sentinel scowls at the minibot, "I wouldn't suggest bad fuel for her. They use high quality ingredients here." Small crystals that are designed to easily fit in an average bot's mouth. They'd be small enough for Sari too.

She taps the menu pensively, "Maybe."

He smiles, petting her helm lovingly, "We can have it so the crystals are put in a separate cube to pour in however you want. Or we can just get an entirely different energon for you with several crushed crystals to the side." He taps the list of high grades, "Just choose from here."

She hums thoughtfully, "I guess? I like the Voxian high grade you got me a lot."

Bumblebee makes a strangled sound, "You got her Voxian high grade? That's-" the mech's vocals short out, and the minibot starts to pant. Most likely since Perceptor seems intent on the menu in front of him, while his arm is wiggling just a bit.

"You are going to get arrested for public obscenity," Sentinel warns the bot, but Perceptor only smiles faintly at him, the corners of his mouth twitching up for a nanoklik before going neutral again.

Both servos appear on the table top and Bumblebee vents with relief, shifting beside him. Sari stifles a giggle with her servo, "You guys are pervy. You can wait for the molesting until after, can't you?"

Perceptor looks at the menu, "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." The truckbot's optics flick over to Bumblebee, "I am thinking about getting the rust mix. What about you?"

Bumblebee just gives the sciencebot a slightly shifty look, "I haven't _seen_ the menu ye-"

The mech is cut off with a squeak by Perceptor yanking the minibot closer, "We can share."

Bumblebee blushes, a small pair of red circles high on his cheek arches, "I... I'm fi-... okay." If Sentinel didn't know better, he'd say the minibot sounded slightly lovesick.

He hadn't realized that Bumblebee had a crush on the stoic sciencebot. He was thankful for it, though. It meant that they would make a better couple than he'd hoped for. Perceptor would have been disastrous with Optimus. He'll have to draw Cliff aside at the beginning of their date to warn the bot to be . . . serious with the Magnus. Optimus is so very old-fashioned when it comes to relationships.

He looks at the menu with Sari, and murmurs softly to her, "Did you decide what you want?"

She frowns, "I really don't know. I don't want to break a gear, and this all seems like it is engineered to do it. I like crystals a lot, but..." She trails off, looking at him sadly.

He kisses her on the facemask, "I do think the crystal cube will be fine. But, like I said, you can just get a high grade, and we can order crushed crystals for you." He smiles, "I can eat them with you." He doesn't care too much for crushed crystals by themselves, but Sari seems to love having him eat them for her.

She smiles at him, "Okay. We can try it that way."

Sentinel turns to Perceptor to ask if they're ready to order, and then covers his optics with his servo, venting a sigh. The bot has Bumblebee on his lap, and is whispering in his audio. Bumblebee squeaks with shock and says, terribly loud, "Uh, um . . with an _energy_ whip? Are you serious?"

The other patrons at the restaurant stare over at them, and Sentinel wants to melt into the ground with embarrassment. It's even worse when Perceptor answers calmly, not lowering his voice any, "Yes. It has been some time since I have had the opportunity to use it. I was hoping you would be amenable to trying it."

Bumblebee buries his head in the truckbot's neck, "I... I don't know. I've never tried it before. If you want, we can. I'm willing."

Sari sighs loudly, "_Not_ at the table, please. Let him sit back in his chair, and stop talking about these things."

Perceptor gives her an unreadable look, and does not let go of Bumblebee. "We will stop talking about it, but I think he will stay right where he is." The mech squeezes the minibot's aft possessively, "Isn't that right?"

Bumblebee gasps softly, "Y-yeah. I'm good with being right here. He's comfy."

There's a warm weight on his lap suddenly, and Sentinel glances down to find that Sari has plopped herself down on him. "Fine. Then I'm sitting on Sentinel." She pats his thigh, "I like it here."

It's not appropriate, but many bots do sit like this, so he doesn't protest it. He can see a half dozen couples cuddled just like this across the room. The larger the size difference between the bots, the more likely the shared seating arrangement becomes.

Sari moves his head down, tugging on his helm, and snapping her facemask away to kiss him before putting her facemask back up. She pets his chest, giving him a possessive look, "Much better."

He knows he has that paint on his lips now, a tiny print perfectly sized to her mouth. He gives her a slightly rueful look, while Bumblebee makes an indignant noise. "Don't do that, Sari! You're-"

She glares, "You're the one that made sure everyone in the place knew Perceptor wants to use an energy whip on you. Don't tell me what I can or can't do."

Perceptor looks amused, "Do you use one on Sentinel?"

Sentinel stiffens, "We are not-"

Sari clings to him, interrupting, "No. Sentinel doesn't want to 'face for our first vorn together, and even if we were, I wouldn't use something like that on him."

"It takes a remarkable amount of trust to allow one's partner to use a whip on them," Perceptor says simply, before _pulling one out of his subspace_, igniting it with a click, the whip humming with charge, glowing a vibrant pink. "It hurts, of course, but the pain, given the right way, quickly turns to pleasure. It is amazing what the processor is capable of." He rubs his servo along the charged whip, and Sentinel winces, knowing that it has to _sting_ like crazy, touching it that way. "I would be more than willing to offer you a demonstration some sol, Sari. Every bot should know how to give and how to endure a good whipping."

He holds her close, not allowing Perceptor to see much of her. "No. Absolutely not." He loves how _fragile_ she is. Such treatment is abhorrent, and the idea of her being put under a whip is appalling. He glares at the truckbot, "Put that _away_."

They aren't going to be allowed to come _back_ because of this. He _likes_ this place. They treat him and Sari with respect, even if they only went once before and not for dinner. He doesn't like that Perceptor is ruining this.

The sciencebot turns the energy whip off, placing it in his subspace. "Very well." The mech teases at Bumblebee's seams, making the minibot squirm, "But you will like it, Bumblebee. I'll show you just how wonderful you will feel."

The minibot flushes and squirms harder against the mech, swapping paint with him, "I um . . I guess so. You'll stop if I don't like it, right?"

Perceptor nods minutely, "Of course. We will make a safeword for you. I will ease you into this. It is bad form to leave a mech leaking energon after their very first whipping session. You will have a stinging back and aft, but nothing worse, I promise. I am very skilled with this weapon."

Holding Sari a little closer, he murmurs softly to her, "If I had known this would happen, I never would have had him as an option at all. I would have gotten someone else to be the date."

She looks up at him, wide opticked, "I don't need to _know_ this about them. At all."

He rubs her back, pressing a kiss to her head, "We may end up leaving soon, anyway. It looks like the manager is about to kick us out before we can even order. It is disappointing, since I had wanted to try the dinner here."

She nods, curling against him sadly, "Well, their energon is nothing in comparison what you make me, anyway. You make the best energon for me there is."

The manager himself comes over, his smile rather stiff and forced, "Would you like to order now? We are happy to serve bots of all persuasions, but we would like to remind you that this is a _family_ establishment, and while there may be no sparklings present at the moment, they could arrive at any moment, and not all conversation topics are _appropriate_ here."

Perceptor blinks and studies his surroundings, "Oh, yes. I had forgotten that you allowed younger bots here. You used to not. I will reign the conversation to more appropriate subjects. Please accept my apologies."

The manager's optic twitches, "Just remember it." The mech looks at them, "Are you ready to order?"

Sentinel nods, "I would like a cube of oil shale infused medium grade, while she," he nods at Sari, curled up in his lap, "wants a cube of Voxian high grade in a scooterbot sized cube with a small side of crushed crystals. Small enough to fit in her mouth easily, please."

The mech nods, giving them a small smile, "Would you like ruststicks?"

He shakes his head, "No, thank you." Sari tried ruststicks and was genuinely not impressed. He wanted to make his own version to see how she liked those before pressing other types on her. Better to have something made with love, rather than something they just pull out of a mass-market box or bag.

The managerbot smiles, "Very well." The mech's expression darkens as he turns to Perceptor, "And you, sirs?"

"Standard high grade with a bit of oil mixed in. I am not picky about the grade or flavor. Red Alert wants me to take more oil now." His faceplates wrinkle briefly. "Something about needing replacement oil after so many lab explosions."

Bumblebee points at something on the menu, a cube filled with layers of alternating colored energon, "I'd like to try that."

Perceptor kisses Bumblebee, then says, "He would like that in various types of _high grade_, rather than colored sparkling energon. As many types as possible, and as many shades as you can get. He will need the energy."

Bumblebee blushes, "I don't need to get overcha-"

"You won't be." Perceptor rubs the minibot's side. "You really will need the energy for tonight. Just fuel slowly, and you won't need to worry about that." The sciencebot returns his focus to the manager, "We'd like an order of ruststicks, and a order of crystals." The bot taps his fingers on Bumblebee, looking at the selection of crystals, "The ember crystals mixed with ice ones. Preferably ones that look the same, but I realize that will be harder to do. If they have the telltale streaks showing the difference, that's perfectly fine."

"As you wish, sirs." The bot looks quite unfriendly, and Sentinel knows they'll be getting slagged up crystals that are red and blue, easily distinguishable. Perceptor likely wants to fuel Bumblebee without the bot realizing what to expect each time.

Pulling Sari closer, Sentinel murmurs in her audio, "I hope the rest of our dates do not go this way."

She nods, cuddling close to him, "Yeah. It should be better, though. Optimus and Bulkhead aren't the kinda bots to let this happen. Unless Rodimus or Cliffjumper are secretly like Perceptor. I don't want them to do this to Optimus or Bulkhead."

He nods, murmuring softly, "I'm going to make sure that Cliffjumper realizes how serious it is to be on a date with Optimus. He'll know that Optimus only accepted this under protest, and just because it was _you_ saying that he should. If it had been anyone else asking..."

She nods, "Exactly. Bulkhead was hard to convince, too, but we'll get there."

"Good." He kisses her cheek. "I wonder how Red Alert deals with him."

Perceptor smile across the table, keen audios having picked that up, "Red Alert enjoys handling a whip as well, though she is not as skilled with it as I am. I had to teach her how to use it properly after she damaged Wheeljack inadvertently several times."

He wishes the bot would shut up about the whip. They're going to be kicked out, and he is _not_ going to be happy about it.

Sari glares out from his arms, "That isn't what we meant, and you know it. Stop saying things like that. I like how they do the energon here, and you doing this isn't helping."

He's glad she likes it. Kissing her head, he murmurs, "We can go again later if he gets us kicked out. It is clear that the manager likes us just fine, while being irritated at Perceptor."

He is fairly sure that while the sciencebot will be told not to come back, he and Sari will be told just not to bring disruptive guests again. Which he is more than willing to do.

The final bolt, of course, is Perceptor rubbing a servo against Bumblebee's pelvic plating, loudly asking, "Would you consider getting a valve mod for me? I would enjoy playing with it."

The manager comes over like a dark storm cloud, nearly vibrating with tension, "Sirs, we are going to have to ask both of you to _leave_ now." He turns to Sentinel and Sari, "You two may stay. We've never had troubles with you in the past."

Sentinel sighs, "I'm sorry for th-"

Perceptor stands up, holding Bumblebee, "It looks like we have to go now, Sentinel. You both stay here, I'll be taking Bumblebee with me. You have fun." The mech sounds almost cheerful, "You can ask us about how much we approve of you two together later." The mech heads out the door quickly, and Sentinel wants to slam his head against the table.

He looks at the manager instead, "I _am_ sorry about this. If I had known, I never would have done this. I wasn't expecting-"

The mech holds up a servo, "We understand. This happens sometimes. Is there anything of their order you'd still like us to bring out?"

He looks at Sari, thinking about how much she had liked that single ember crystal he had, and says, "The ice and ember crystals? They don't have to have the hidden taste markers for them. We're fine with the big streaks if you already have those out."

"We can get you the good crystals." The bot smiles at them, "You've been excellent customers here, and we like to reward that sort of thing."

Sentinel smiles and rubs his fingers against Sari's, "Then we'd appreciate the tray of those crystals. And . . perhaps the cube of colored energon." He'll prove he's a caring bot by offering it to Bumblebee the next time he sees him. The bot had seemed so enthusiastic about trying it.

The manager nods, smiling, "Of course. You will get that, as well." The bot gives him a sly look, "To go?"

He wonders when he got so very transparent. "Yes, please."

The mech smiles, "We'll do that, then."

He walks off, and Sari sighs softly against Sentinel. "I wish that Perceptor hadn't turned out to be such a pervbot. Bee was saying that he had a _crush_ on Perceptor for awhile, and was amazed we set them up. I should have realized something like this would happen."

He pets her back, "It is hard to tell. Don't worry. We have the date here to ourselves." He teases her headfin lightly, "Want to sit on the other side of the table, or are you fine in my lap?"

"I like your lap. It's comfy." She wiggles on him and gets paint on her aft for her effort. Well, on her skirt, which covers her aft. Her armor is so very unique. It makes him want to slide a servo up under it, but he knows it's inappropriate because she's techno-organic.

He sighs, and kisses the top of her helm. "Then you can stay right there if you like. I like having you on my lap."

She nuzzles him, "Good, since I like _being_ on your lap. It is wonderful to have you holding me. I feel safe and warm with you holding me."

His spark warms, he loves her feeling like this with him. He can protect her from everything, and he knows how much she loves it. "I'm glad." he rubs her sides, nuzzling her lovingly, "I know you didn't have any ice crystals since I couldn't find any. I hope you do like them. If you do, we can get a few and crush them with ember crystals. It would be much easier for you to eat, and you'd get the same experience."

"Sure." Sari smiles at him, trusting and sweet. "I like when you suggest things. They always turn out good, Sentinel." She bites her lip, mask retracted still, "I . . you're so much better than I thought you would be. You're different, and . . I really like the bot you are when you're with me."

He flushes, "Thank you." His spark pulses with joy, and Sentinel kisses his femme, unconcerned with the lip paint they're smearing with their kisses.

She giggles softly when he pulls away, and takes out a cleaning cloth to wipe at his mouth. "I think I'll take off my makeup. It looks like I won't need it, and you just constantly take it off of me, anyway." She removes the paint from her lips, then pauses, "Do you want me to keep the cheek glitter?"

He rubs her sides, "You look lovely no matter what."

She shakes her head, "No. I'm asking if you like it. I got it because I thought the models wearing it looked nice, but I want to know what you think. I don't really notice anything with me, but I'll keep wearing it if you like it. I don't care either way."

He touches her face, and the glitter comes off on his fingers, "I think... as long as we aren't doing anything too... intimate, it may be nice to have it on. You look lovely with it just like how you look lovely without. You got it because you liked it. You may as well use it."

"Alright." She grins at him, and then falls silent as the manager comes out with energon for them. "Thank you."

The bot smiles at them, "It was no problem. It's an honor to serve a couple so obviously working down the road to a bond. Your sparklings will turn out very cute when they get older."

Sentinel flushes. "I . . yes. Thank you."

Sari cuddles against him, "Thank you."

They both smile as the energon and crystals get placed in front of them. The bot pushes the ice and ember crystals closer to Sari, "As you can see, we had them sliced up. You should be able to eat them easily. It should taste better than crushed crystals, as well. We know that your dente will make short work of them, so we know you'll enjoy them properly."

She pauses part way from grabbing the crystal slices, "Are... are they hard?"

Sentinel kisses the top of her head, "No harder than the ember crystal I got for you. Softer, in fact. They don't have the pigmentation that solidifies part of it even more. You didn't have trouble with that part, you should be fine with this."

"Okay." She takes the crystal slice and pops it in her mouth, her gears grinding it up, and she blinks. "Oh. It tastes kinda minty. Like a peppermint stick." She grinds another one, "I like that." The third one she takes gets a blink, "Oh. Um. That's one of the ember ones. You mixed them up on the tray?"

The manager nods with a smile, "Yes. I thought you would enjoy it that way. It's like a surprise with each bite."

She nods, taking another and nibbling it cautiously, "I think I like the ice ones more, really. The ember ones are okay, but they need other things to even them out."

The manager smiles, "And that's why we have the energon. You two fuel up, okay?"

Sentinel nods, "Thank you."

The bot waves a servo, "It isn't a problem. You enjoy your date together."

They link servos and do just that.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>They don't pay him enough for this.<p>

They really don't.

Bumblebee is sitting awkwardly in front of him in his office, shifting back and forth in his seat, "So, I guess you're not . . . terrible. Sari likes you. Likes you enough that she made me come and apologize this sol, but that's not really why I'm here. I want to know . . do you have any idea where I can get a valve mod installed? Percy really wants me to get one."

Nowhere near enough credits.

He continues to stare at the minibot, and Bumblebee shifts a little more, "So... you don't?"

"Do I look like a bot that would know that?" He wishes the mech would leave. He just wants to get done with his work, and that will be that. He needs to talk to Cliffjumper about the date he's going to be at changing. He had gotten it right for Bulkhead, but now they're switching it. He isn't going to have Optimus go alone and Bulkhead suddenly have two dates. Or Optimus with Rodimus. It wouldn't turn out well at all.

Bumblebee shrugs, "I don't know what mods you got. I don't stare at your pelvic armor. I'm just not interested in you."

Thank Primus for that. He doesn't want the minibot lusting after his spark. He doesn't date other mechs, eve in some are quite nice looking. He has femmes that like him, and now he's settling in for a bond with Sari. The idea of Bumblebee staring at his aft... is more than a little unsettling.

"But I figured you'd probably know where I could get the mod, 'cause you're always aware of stuff like that. Decepticons like those mods, so you probably had it on your list of dangerous places, right?"

He had most certainly _not_ tried to shut down interfacing toy and mod shops. If he had, his people would have rebelled even more than they did when he shut down places of potential Decepticon gatherings like the less reputable bars and oil houses. "I have no idea, Bumblebee. Why don't you ask Ratchet?"

The minibot flushes, "No way. If I ask him, he'll try installing them on me himself. I don't want his servos up in my wires that way."

"Red Alert could possibly answer that. She's in the medical bay right-"

The minibot shakes his head, "No. Ratchet is _also_ in the medical bay, and she'll shove me over to him."

"You're dating Perceptor, and he is one of her mechs. She would happily help you with it. She'd know exactly what type Perceptor liked best, as well."

He wishes _he_ wasn't the one Bumblebee had chosen to ask this. He is not the least bit knowledgeable about this sort of thing. He isn't the type of bot to want one, and Sari is far too _small_ for him to install anything like that. He wouldn't do that to her.

"Or you can talk to Alpha Trion," he adds, because the old lech needs distracting. The bot keeps staring at Sari like she's a particularly fresh, sweet cube of energon and he's suffering deprivation. Sentinel does not appreciate that at all, because Sari is dating _him_ and not an old lech.

But the mech would know everything there was to know about interfacing mods of any kind.

Bumblebee wrinkles his faceplates. "I don't want to ask him. The last time I talked to Alpha Trion, I somehow ended up bent over his desk and I'm not even sure how it happened."

That does sound like a visit to Alpha Trion for most bots, and why Optimus and him are never alone when they talk to him. There's always another bot to shove in front of them, or to help defend against the old lech. He always has his office door locked to the bot, and had it double guarded against him when he was Magnus.

"Well, you could have Perceptor tell you. It is easy enough to do, and you could choose it together." That way he doesn't have to hear about this.

Bumblebee looks shy, and it feels oddly out of place for the normally exuberant mech, "But what if he doesn't want to join me? He told me he wanted it on me, but didn't say anything else."

"If a mech asks you to mod yourself for them, they'd better be there every step of the way or they aren't worth it," Sentinel counsels him. If Sari ever asked him to mod himself, he would expect her to be with him the entire time. And to agree to some modification herself. He wouldn't object to minor 'facing mods. Maybe something nice and simple that he could use with her.

But they had a long time before they would need to worry about that at all.

Bumblebee looks at him intensely, then suddenly nods. "Yeah. I can go ask him. That way I'll get something he likes, and he'll know I really do want him." The bot looks apprehensive again, "I hope this works."

Sentinel stands up, pulling the minibot out of the chair, "I'm certain it will. You won't need to worry about it. Just go ask him, and he'll most than likely be incredibly happy you want to do this with him. I don't know if Perceptor has a spikemod," the sciencebot most likely _does_ if he wanted Bumblebee to have a valvemod, "but I'm sure he'll be glad to help get you fitted with something he likes best."

"I guess so." Bumblebee shuffles his peds, "It's fragging embarrassing though. I don't really want to ask him about it."

Sentinel arches an optic ridge, "But it wasn't embarrassing asking me?"

"Frag no. You're-" the bot trails off. "Um. . well, no. I don't really care what you think about it, so I don't mind asking you. Nothing to lose if you think I'm a weirdo for having to ask." He looks down at his hips and wiggles them, "You think I've got enough room for a valve mod?"

He rubs his optics, feeling tired, "I don't know." Pushing the mech to the door, he says, "I am sure that Perceptor would know. You can ask him and see what he thinks is best." He opens the door to his office, gesturing the little bot through. "You should do that now. Or, better yet, you can do your work. I have yet to get your report for what you did last sol."

The minibot blushes, rushing out of the room, "Yeah-I'll-get-right-on-that.-Bye!"

He really doesn't get paid enough for this.

* * *

><p>Sentinel takes out a cleaning cloth, and works a few smudges out of Cliffjumper's frame, "Now, remember what I said about th-"<p>

"Yeah, yeah. The bot you put me with is really old-fashioned, and that you want me to be on my best behavior. Is there any reason why I can't know who this mysterybot is? I could just go talk to them and tell them I don't mind waiting. I'm good with a slow courting if this works out."

He severely doubts that this will end up with Cliffjumper and Optimus dating. It doesn't seem possible at all. They aren't really well matched, from what he can tell. Granted, it seems like he has no fragging clue what other bots like in the berth, judging by Perceptor and Bumblebee.

"I'd rather keep it a surprise." In case Cliff doesn't want to date Optimus and flees the klik he informs him. The restaurant is a significantly nicer one this time, because Sentinel wants to impress Optimus. It's not quite the World's End, but the Twisted Wire caters to the upper class bots with credits to spare, and it's a very romantic place, with soft, glowing crystals at every table, keeping the room dimly lit while soft music plays from a live band that the Wire employs to keep the atmosphere peaceful.

He rather likes it, but he's still not sure how Optimus and 'Jumper will take it. He hopes they both like it. He knows Sari does, because he's taken her here once before and she'd blushed the entire time.

Cliffjumper gives him an irritated look, "Surprises are rarely a good thing, Sent. What if I hate the bot?"

"I doubt you will. He's a good mech, Cliff. You already know him, and you get along fine with him." You can't work for a bot you actively hate. Not as closely as Cliffjumper has to be with the Magnus. That's one of the reasons they're such good friends now. Planning together does that to a bot.

The minibot huffs, "Fine. But it better not be..." The mech waves a servo as they head out the door, "Sedan or something. I told you no minibots."

"I wouldn't match you up with a minibot, Cliff." He pats the mech on the back, "I'm not that stupid. You like your partners bigger than you, but not too much bigger."

The mini just huffs, "Frag. I don't care about their size as long as they're not a minibot fetishist. Or another minibot, because you think minis should only date minis. I get enough of that frag from bots."

Sentinel just pushes him towards the Twisted Wire.

When they get there, he spots where Sari and Optimus are sitting. Before going to join them, he gives the mech one last look over; he doesn't want Cliff to look bad for this. When he's certain the bot is clean, he pulls the bot over. Cliffjumper's optics widen when he realizes what table they're going to. "That's _Optimus Magnus_! You can't be serious!"

He murmurs back as they walk, "I am. I told you, he's old fashioned. He'll want you to wait for him, and court him. You said you could do that. Should I just call the whole thing off?" He hopes not, this is more than a little important. He wants Optimus and the team to leave him alone.

"I can't date the fragging _Magnus_," Cliffjumper hisses at him, before giving the other bots a brilliant smile. "You're an aft for not warning me, you fraghead." When they're in audio distance, he falls silent, and slips into the booth across from Optimus, taking a more neutral position than Perceptor had, choosing to avoid direct contact. "Hello, Optimus, sir."

Optimus rubs his optics, "Hello, Cliffjumper. I suppose, since we have been set up on a date, that we should drop the formalities while we are here."

"No, sir, I don't thi- OW!" Sentinel kicks the bot under the table, and Cliffjumper glares at him as he rubs his leg, "Yes, Optimus. That seems fine."

That's better. The bot is on a date, and _will_ be polite about this. He's not letting Cliff get away with that sort of thing.

Optimus gives Sentinel an annoyed look, and cautiously puts a servo on the minibot's shoulder. "We... we don't have to do this. I was hoping to get a bot that would like me, since Sari has been reassuring me since I was informed about the blind date, but you are welcome to leave if you really don't want to try this. No one will force you to stay."

"It's a blind date, sir. The entire point is getting surprised and finding out if the other bot suits you." Cliffjumper stretches a bit, and then settles down beside Sari. Sentinel's not thrilled that he has to sit by Optimus. "I'd like to see how we work out together."

Optimus's cheeks flush pink, "That's very thoughtful, Cliffjumper, but please, do not feel obligated to stay."

The minibot waves a servo. "It isn't a problem, sir. I am willing to try if you are."

Optimus looks at the table, blushing still, "I really would prefer if you use my actual name. We aren't at work, so it would be ... nice to have the formality dropped."

Cliffjumper looks a tiny bit uncomfortable, then nods, "I can do that... Optimus." Sentinel can tell that the minibot is fighting not to add 'sir' to that. And judging by Optimus's face, the truckbot can tell, too. Which is amazing, since normally he's so oblivious to everything.

He wonders if Optimus fancies minibots. He's never shown that sort of predilection before, but it's hard to tell with most bots. Anyone could be a secret mini fancier.

If the mech calls Cliff small, little, tiny, or any other diminutive, he's going to get a fist to the face, even if he _is_ the Magnus. Cliffjumper doesn't react well to things like that, though he'd reportedly allowed Longarm to call him 'little' several times without reprimand.

Not any visible one, at least. It's possible he was beating Longarm in private and the sick 'Con was getting off on it.

Optimus smiles cautiously, "Thank you." The mech turns to Sari, "You never even gave me any hint that I would be set up with him. For awhile, I had thought I was going to be with Perceptor. I was going to tell you not to bother, since Bumblebee has been walking around my offices talking about him. I'm glad I didn't."

Sari frowns, "How long has he wanted Perceptor?"

"The last..." Optimus frowns, looking at Cliffjumper, "How long as he been visiting my office at a regular basis?"

"About six stellar cycles," Cliffjumper answers easily. "Almost seven, but he was after another bot then."

"Six stellar cycles, then." Optimus shakes his head fondly, "Our Bee gets his processor stuck on a bot and it takes him a while to get over them. I'm glad he's found a good match with Perceptor, though I wish he would stop sharing information about what they're doing together. Or how he intends to mod himself. I have learned more in the past decacycle about what a whip can do than I had ever hoped to learn."

Sentinel shudders, wondering why Bumblebee didn't ask Optimus where to get a mod, only to remember how much of a virgin the truckbot is. Optimus wouldn't have a clue where to get a 'facing mod. Even less of one than Sentinel.

Cliffjumper nods, "He has been talking to me about it, too. Whenever you're busy." Cliffjumper makes a face, "I do wish he'd stop, but asking him to didn't really work all that well."

Optimus sighs, "It rarely does. He's not very good at being silent."

"He's Bumblebee," Sari says, as if that explains everything, and maybe it does to them. "Anyways, I'm gonna go visit Earth again next week." She smiles across the table at Sentinel, "So you can expect me to be gone for a week. Just about a decacycle. It's my birthday, and Dad wants to have a big party. I'm not really sure who he plans on inviting, since I don't really have friends there, but it should be fun." She laughs, "Maybe he'll hire some strippers or something without realizing it, like he did when I was fifteen."

He blinks, not sure how to react. The idea of humans stripping down to their bare protoforms makes him want to shudder in disgust. While Sari going bare like that is wonderful, anyone else makes him feel ill. He's glad that the organics visiting them cover up with _something_, and don't come in completely bare.

"I'd come with you, but-"

"I know. You have to work. It isn't like I told you what was happening before now. Don't worry about it." She reaches over, and he lets her take his servo to squeeze, "I'll be back before you even realize I was gone."

"I'll know," he promises her, lifting her servo to brush a kiss against her knuckles. She likes when he does that; it always makes her smile.

Cliff coughs, and stares at him until he lets go of her servo. The mech turns to Optimus, "I was thinking about having Sari work as your secretarybot. If we're going to date, it really won't be appropriate for me to work under you like that."

Optimus nods, "It would be too easy for me to-"

"I could manipulate your schedule and tasks in all sorts of nasty ways if we got in a fight," Cliffjumper continues, over the top of Optimus's words, "so I don't think I should have such power over you while we negotiate a possible courtship."

Optimus's optics widen, and he holds his servos to his face to hide the incredibly obvious blush. "R-really? You'd be willing to-? I never had a bot willing to-" The bot looks down, blushing even harder, servos holding himself, "If... if you want to, I'd like that."

Sentinel really has no clue how to react to this. He didn't know that Optimus liked Cliff like this.

Sari smiles, "Well, we can start up a courting contract next sol, how does that sound?"

Optimus nods slowly, and Cliffjumper smiles, "I'm happy with that. We'll figure something out for it."

"Sure." Sari pats Optimus's servo across the table. "It'll be great."

Sentinel thinks it'll either turn out perfect or it'll be a disaster. Optimus and Cliff barely know each other. Optimus is a softsparked glitch, and 'Jumper would gun down an entire platoon of Decepticons if he could, just for the fun of it. And then brag about the size of his gun and his accuracy while doing it. Optimus didn't go for that sort of thing at all.

He smiles when the waiter comes over to take their orders, "I would like a medium grade with a mix of crystals." That will mean that he can finally have Sari try it without shying away. He kind of wonders if this is how she broke that gear in her mouth, since she doesn't want to have it _in_ her energon.

Sari squirms a little bit, "I'd like a cube of extra refined high grade, in scooterbot size, and a plate of sliced spiral crystals."

Optimus orders next, and he's oddly quiet and shy, "I'd like a cube of whipped energon, medium grade. With a spoon." He seems to have taken the lectures on energon etiquette to spark this time, and Sentinel is thankful for it. The last thing he needs is the entire fragging restaurant panting after their Magnus all evening long.

They'll be bad enough just listening to him moan and whine while he nibbles on his energon whip from a spoon.

Cliffjumper is last with, "Medium grade with rust flakes."

The bot most likely chose that since it is the simplest fuel on the menu. If he had a choice, he'd make Cliffjumper get something else, but he'll let the minibot choose whatever. He knows Cliff likes rust flakes, at least.

The waiter nods, taking the menus and disappearing. Optimus smiles shyly at Cliffjumper, "I..." he trails off, unsure what else to say.

Cliffjumper reaches over cautiously, and pats Optimus's servo once before pulling away, "I'm glad I'm here, too. I really _am_ willing to go through a courtship with you."

"Thank you." The bot flushes and looks away, "I know it is rather old-fashioned of me to insist on one, but . . . I cannot imagine simply committing to a relationship without one."

Sentinel can. Sentinel hates courtships and their mandatory fragging rules about everything. If he wants to go on a date without a chaperone, he should be allowed to. If he wants to adjust the timeline for fragging, he should be able to without having to submit a form in triplicate.

Cliffjumper smiles, "Well, I don't mind taking this slow. It is good to get to know the bot you're with before getting bonded or interfacing. Any pace you need is fine with me."

Optimus smiles, still blushing brightly, "G-good." The mech looks down, "I'd hate to rush, and have everything turn out badly."

The minibot nods, "Well, I won't let it turn out badly. Don't worry."

"Thank you," Optimus repeats, before changing the subject. "I was wondering if you'd like to visit the petting zoo later this decacycle with me, Sari, before you have to leave. They have a new litter of turbofox kits that just onlined, and they're adorably small." A flush heats his cheeks, "I don't feel . . right, going alone. But if you wanted to go, I could escort you."

Sentinel feels a small spike of jealously when Sari smiles and says, "I'd love to, Optimus. It sounds fun." He knows she thinks of Optimus as a creator, so pushes that feeling away. She is allowed to have friends and family, even if he'd like her with him at all times. He can't do that himself, so he certainly can't ask Sari to do it, either.

Besides, she'll have fun at the petting zoo, while he always tries to avoid it. He has never been very fond of them. The cybergoats are always carrying or are incredibly fat. And there are always so many of them just wandering around.

He does like the flock of tame laserhawks, but not enough to actually have to suffer through the rest of the animals just to see them. He'd enjoyed it as a sparkling. Not now.

"Make sure you bring some spare credits," Cliffjumper advises them both. "They have little dispensers with energon pellets that you can feed to the animals there, but you have to pay for them."

Sari nods, "Never go without a creditpad, anyway." She perks up when the waiter comes, placing the fuel in front of each of them. Her optics brighten when she takes one of the crystal slices and puts it in her mouth. Her little teeth grind them up, and she grins. "These are rather good." she pushes the plate to him, "You try it."

He takes a sliver of crystal and nibbles on it, and finds it sweet, but a bit brittle for his tastes. He likes his crystals to have a better crunch, and less of a crumble. "It's nice." He lifts one piece up and offers it to her, "But I think you enjoy them more than I do."

She takes it from his servo with her mouth, flicking her glossa against his fingertips with a giggle. Sentinel smiles at her. She's such a sweet femme.

Optimus coughs, "You should not share energon and crystals that way after just a few dates."

Sari shoots Optimus a scathing look, "We've been on a great deal of dates. We have lunch every sol, and make sure to check out several restaurants. We went through five before settling on this one for you and Cliffjumper, Optimus. Don't tell us it is just a _few_ dates. If I was still at home, Dad would be wondering if we would be getting married at the end of the stellar cycle."

It has been an almost insane amount of time he's been with her in such a short period, but he can't find it in himself to even care. He loves being with her, just to see how she talks and moves. It isn't even just physical anymore. She reminds him of how Elita used to be. Headstrong and capable. She may have been shy at first, but he's certain that was just her being worried about him getting upset at her.

Now he knows how strong she really is. She is a femme, and knows what she wants. He's glad to be the mech she wants. The one she is willing to wait for.

Cliffjumper saves him then, by reaching across the table to catch Optimus's servo in his. "I will warn you, Optimus, I am not willing to undergo the most rigorous courtships. While I am happy to court you properly, I am not going to do one of the ancient ones. If it takes longer than a vorn, we're going to have to renegotiate something. There is no need for ceremonies that long."

Optimus has the nerve to look disappointed by that. He's such an old-fashioned romantic at spark. "Of course. I would not expect you to undergo one of those, Cliffjumper."

The minibot squeezes Optimus's servo, "We can discuss this later, if you want. Or," the mech looks at him and Sari, "we can try hammering out a contract now?"

Optimus shakes his head, "No. It is always better for the whole family to be there. I will have my team come to my office in the morning, and we can do this. You should bring bots you consider family as well."

Cliffjumper nods, "I can do that."

Sentinel feels ill. He's almost certain that Cliff is going to drag him into this mess. Cliffjumper does consider him very close, and there's not much of Cliff's actual family left alive any longer, not after the 'Cons had blown up the city he'd grown up in. He's going to end up having to sit and watch the bot negotiate a courtship contract with Optimus.

He's sort of horrified about that.

He can't believe he set this up.

He doesn't even like Optimus all that much anymore. They used to be friends, and would have easily considered each other family, but then everything with Elita happened, and it just broke. He isn't really happy with this. He was just hoping that Cliff would act like a gentlemech while Optimus got into his usual huffy self about dating a bot.

He was certain that Optimus would offline a virgin.

Sentinel had always joked that Optimus was trying to be one of Primus's virgin consorts, hoping that he would offline innocent and be reborn as a pure spark deep within Primus's core, to serve him there. Optimus had flushed, and not denied it.

But apparently worldly pleasures are alluring to the mech after all, if he's considering accepting a courtship.

Sari distracts him wonderfully by placing a crystal in her mouth and chewing. He sighs happily, watching her, and sips on his energon. "Want to try mine?"

She nods, reaching over as he gives her the energon with crushed crystals. She sips it, then makes a face, "Too low of a grade. I can't drink this."

He does keep forgetting how little she likes the lower grades when it comes to his own energon. "That's fine. How is your high grade?"

"It's nice. Sweet, like I like it." She reaches over and pats his arm. "Thank you, sweetspark. But you can stop offering me your energon all the time. I get enough fuel, and you drink stuff that's kinda bleh most of the time. I like things sweeter. Richer." She licks her lips, cleaning away a bit of pink energon smeared there, and Sentinel feels his spark pulse heavily in his chest. She's so attractive.

He smiles at her, "I know. I'm glad you like it, though." He gently nudges the plate of crystals closer to her, "You eat up. You said you always feel better after having a meal of crystals."

She beams at him, geared dente flashing, "I do. It makes me more alert somehow. I like it."

He nods, "I did some research into it, and it turns out that most bots with dente like yours have them just for that reason. Certain frametypes do better with more crystals and minerals in their diets. If anything, you should cut down on the energon, and up the amount of crystals."

"But now that I know some kinds of energon are nummy, I don't want to." She pouts at him and then flickers her optics at him flirtatiously. "Why don't you just feed me more crystals and I'll have more energon too."

He pats her armor right over her tank, "You'll end up bulging out of your armor if you fuel on too much, Sari."

She sticks her glossa out at him, "Nu-uh. Not gonna get fat."

He smiles at her, "Well, we'll see won't we? When you're all bulging and I'm still trim and fit, we'll see who has the last laugh." He taps her tank again.

"But you'll help me get thin again, won't you?" She flickers her optics at him in that spark pulsing way, "You wouldn't leave me to stay like that, would you?"

He would bond with her even if she was twice the size she is now, but he knows she'd never get that far. He'd end up cutting her intake and help her exercise. "I wouldn't."

"You'd help me burn it all off?" Sari flickers her optics again, trailing a servo down his arm.

Sentinel flushes, "Not like that."

She grins, "Not like what?"

He flushes darker, "You know what, Sari. I would help you increase your activity so the extra energy would not get converted in your system by your nanites. However, I doubt a frame as small as you _can_ overfuel. Your tank is small enough that you would simply purge it naturally."

She rubs his arm, just missing his seams, "If you say so." She rubs her servo over his seam for a brief moment, then moves away. "In a vorn or so, I suppose."

He loves how she accepts him taking so long. That she doesn't mind him doing this. That she will _wait_ for him. He could fall in love with her so easily. They spend the rest of the evening in companionable conversation, drifting closer together until their legs tangle under the table.

Optimus casts disapproving glares at him the entire time. But they leave without Optimus threatening him, so he counts it as a win.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p>

Okay, this is going to be over with in two days, guys. I still don't know what I'm going to be uploading if anything o3o

So we'll see how it goes!

Also, if you know Korean and can read this: 데도도라곤

Please tell me what it means. A friend of mine had a Deino in pokemon traded to him with that name. If you know what it is, that would be a great deal of help. Please... don't use translation software. We've tried that.


	9. Chapter 9

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>He's not counting it as a win the next sol, when he has to sit and listen to them negotiate Optimus's courtship contract. It's long and dreadfully boring, and he's close to falling into recharge.<p>

He doesn't even know why he's here, except for possibly to be pointed at and used as an example why it is perfectly fine to wait a vorn before 'facing. Him explaining that it is a personal choice and _not_ a reason to go into the stupidly insane rules for courtship. He'd never want to deal with official courting.

He has the wait period so that the femmes that want to just brag about bagging him stay away. He has no interest in that kind of relationship with anyone.

He's not chaste because it's some goal of his. He just knows that his relationships are better and more meaningful when he waits a bit before fragging his partner. He doesn't want it to be just about the overloads. Ever. Bots are with him because they like _him_. Not his glossa and spark.

Well, he hopes it's partly because of those things. Elita-1 had certainly claimed he was one of the best frags she'd ever had.

He holds Sari in his lap, wanting to take a nap. He can't believe that he got called out of his berth early just to attend this. Even if he had a full night's recharge, he'd be falling over from boredom. Bumblebee is snoring on the floor, and he's certain the only reason that the minibot isn't recharging on the desk is because it is taken up with various datapads filled with contract information.

Sari is also recharging, one of the other reasons he's not taking a stasis nap himself. He doesn't want her to fall off his lap.

Primus, it has been a long time since he had to fake attentiveness like this. Which is ridiculous. He really shouldn't even be here.

Optimus is ridiculously enthralled by it all. He actually seems to care about this slag, which is more than anyone else in the room can claim. Even Cliff seems a bit bored by it all, and Cliff's cousins are half in recharge on the desk. Ratchet keeps prodding the pads and grumbling to himself. His default attitude.

He jumps bit when he realizes he fell into recharge, waking up Sari in his lap. She blinks, looking shaken, then looks up at him. Sitting up, she yawns, and nuzzles against his chest, murmuring softly, "Anything interesting?"

He shakes his head, "Fell into recharge, onlined quickly. Nothing has happened, since they're still negotiating. I just wish they'd hurry up."

She sighs softly, "Do we even have to be here, Optimus?" She reaches over, poking the truckbot, "I have _work_ to do. We all do. You can do this here with Cliffjumper, and I can work as the secretary or whatever outside. It will make life easier, and everyone can do what they _should_ be doing."

"No. It's important that we have many witnesses to show that we were serious and proper in our courtship negotiations." Optimus flushes like a virgin, which he is, "And to show that we are not trying to obtain time alone for illicit purposes."

Sentinel snorts, "No one thinks you're trying to frag in secret, Optimus."

The Magnus blushes scarlet, "It is still-"

He stands up, "You can have..." he looks around and points, "Ratchet do this. He's online enough to pay attention, and knows what is going on. We can also have one of Cliffjumper's cousins stay as well. That way it doesn't look bad or whatever it is you're trying to prove." He doesn't _care_. He just wants to leave so he can do whatever the frag he needs to do this sol.

It certainly isn't to sit in this room and do nothing.

Optimus sighs at him, "You disappoint me, Sentinel. I would have thought that you of all bots would understand how important this is."

Sentinel just stares at him. "I'm not contributing anything by being here." He turns away, "If you absolutely need us here, you can contact us again, but I suspect you'll find that you don't need the audience to hammer out your details."

"Sentine-"

He closes the door, holding Sari, and kisses her on the head, "You going to take over being secretarybot for this sol, then?"

She yawns, stretching, "Yeah. I can do that. It'll be good practice, and show Cliffjumper I can do it. I won't be surprised if more come out of the office in a bit, though."

He nods, expecting the same, "I'll leave you here, then." He sets her in the chair, kissing her on the facemask, "See you at lunch?"

"Sure. We can share a cube in the cafeteria downstairs. Make the other bots jealous of us." She pats his servo and waves at him as he leaves. His own office is a short distance away, but it feels like mechanomiles from her. Sentinel feels like a huge sap for even thinking that, but it's true. He wants to be closer to Sari.

All the time.

* * *

><p>He misses her terribly. She is only going to be gone for a decacycle, but it feels like a decavorn. He knows she's going to be going to have her onlining sol without him; spending her time with her creator.<p>

If he could, he'd be right there with her.

But he can't, since he does have work to do. Work that he can't focus on because he knows that Sari won't be next to him to eat a tiny amount of whipped energon he makes her and the special plate of crystals he had made before remembering she is gone.

He sighs softly, tapping the plate. He doesn't care for them, really, but he knows she loves them. He wishes she was back already

"You're a lovesick glitch," Cliff says to him, leaning against the door to his office, keeping it open with his frame. "I haven't seen that look on your faceplates before."

Sentinel scowls at him, "You're one to talk. I heard you went to the World's End last night, just to please Optimus. You should have asked me first before trying that-Optimus prefers small energon shops."

Cliff shrugs, "He seemed to like it fine last night. We had a good time, and he even let me jump schedule a bit and kiss him. Bot's got a hot mouth."

He makes a face, having never been the least bit interested in Optimus or his prostibot model lips. "I didn't need to know that."

Cliff snorts, "It wasn't like we used glossa or anything, Sent. It was a very chaste kiss." The mech rolls his optics, "I think he would have offlined from shock if I had tried to deepen it."

"I think he would, too." Optimus was always far too chaste about these things. "So why are you even here, anyway? Don't you have your own office you should be at? Or, since it is lunch, why aren't you harassing the Magnus?

"Optimus is out with Bumblebee and Ratchet right now. Supposed to be meeting up with Bulkhead for a cube someplace. I wasn't invited." Cliffjumper looks irritated by that. "Fraggin' glitches said they wanted team bonding time. Any other team, that'd mean they were off rubbin' sparks, but slag if I know what _this_ team considers bonding time."

Knowing Optimus, they were probably out gossiping about their lovers-or soon to be lovers. He can imagine how well Bumblebee's side of that conversation is going. 'So then, he whipped me until there was energon everywhere and he did this thing with the handle of the whip and my valve and it was awesome.'

He keeps from shuddering in disgust. He had to deal with Bumblebee coming in and explaining it to him. He didn't _care_ nor want to know about what goes on with that minibot and Perceptor. He didn't need to know about the valve, how it was installed, or why Perceptor likes it.

He pats the desk, "Well, sit down. We can have lunch together. I have an entire cube of whipped energon you can have. I don't know if you want the crystals, though. They're too sweet for me." Sari loves sweet things, so he goes out of his way to get them for her.

Cliff nods, sitting on the desk and taking the cube from him, "Not really a fan of crystals."

"But you are a fan of my energon." That was expected. Cliff had always come to him for fuel. He wasn't surprised by that at all.

The minibot sips from the cube of whipped energon with a soft, pleased sound. "Frag yeah, I am. Bot would have to be glitched not to enjoy this, Sent. You make a fragging good cube." The bot pauses, and wrinkles his faceplates. "Cube of energon. I have no idea how well you might serve as an energon _cube_."

He smiles, "Well, I'm glad you like it." He doesn't mind giving it to Cliffjumper, since the mech will never demand he constantly make it like some other bots. Sari didn't even ask him to keep making the whipped energon, he did it on his own. He loves that she doesn't just _expect_ him to do things for her.

Cliffjumper nods at him, "I am kinda surprised that you never work in your family's shop, though. Sure, they're jerks, but you seem to love making this stuff. You could do it there."

He shakes his head, "No. They never even acknowledged me other than to hate me. I was Magnus," and will be again, but he knows Cliffjumper won't agree with that now that he's dating Optimus, "and they have nothing but ridicule. Even more now that they insulted Sari. They can go rust for all I care."

The minibot shrugs, "Sure. Whatever. But you know I've seen you with them. They're afts, but you're not much better when you're alone with them. You may not rub their faces in your success anymore, but you did back then. Not a great way to get your family to reconcile with you."

Sentinel admits he'd made . . . mistakes in the past, but their current treatment of him and Sari was unjustified.

"Just shut your mouth and drink your energon."

Cliffjumper gives him an amused smile, and sips on the whipped energon.

* * *

><p>Sentinel only keeps from pacing through long practice of being told to stand still when he was younger. He wants to rush to the space bridge, but he knows it will not help Sari get back any faster. She is coming home, and bringing her creator with her.<p>

He really just wants to see her.

When she steps out, he rushes to her, picking her up and spinning around. She laughs loudly, kissing him when he brings her in for a hug. Kissing back, he holds her tightly, never wanting to let go of her again.

There's a cough, and Sentinel looks down to find a . . strange looking bot even smaller than Sari. A mech, he supposes. Sari shifts and ends up perched on his shoulder, leaning against his helm, "So, dad, this is Sentinel. We're dating. Sentinel, this is my dad."

The little mech lifts a servo, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Sari has said many wonderful things about you." The bot sounds very old and frail, and Sentinel clasps his servo lightly. She'd said something about a bot suit. Her father must be . . . inside.

How disturbing.

But it could be far worse. At least Sari's creator could easily be thought of as just another scooterbot. One that is easily seen as Sari's creator, from their size. He's glad that the mech is safe. There won't be any trouble with random bots trying to squish him.

He shakes the little mech's servo carefully, "It is a pleasure to meet you." He smiles, "She has said many wonderful things about _you_, but that isn't surprising since you're her father. She is a wonderful femme."

"Oh, yes." The mech smiles, "She is a wonderful daughter. My pride and joy." He looks around, "So, this is Cybertron? It's a lovely planet. Very different." He turns his attention back to Sentinel, "Sari suggested that I come up with a new name for myself, but I admit that I am very easily distracted and I forget things. I think we should just stick with Isaac for safety."

Sari sighs, "Dad's not good with secret identities."

He smiles, "Well, since you," he taps Sari on the nose lightly, "are named Sari, which is not a traditional bot name, I'm sure that Isaac is fine. Just say that it is normal on your planet, and it will be accepted."

Sari kisses him, "If you say so."

He smiles, "Well, it _is_ true. You won't need to worry about it." He looks down at Isaac, "Is there anything in particular that you wanted to do? Or were you planning on just wandering around with Sari?"

"Oh, a little of this and that." The mech toddles along beside them, until Sentinel holds down a servo.

"Would you like me to carry you? It's normal for larger bots to carry smaller ones if they do not mind it."

Sari pats his shoulder, "C'mon up, dad. He's good at being a truck. I mean, we could probably ride inside him, like we did in Optimus, but the view is better up here."

Isaac looks up at them, then nods. "Yes, I can see how that would be a good idea. I won't fall will I? I don't know how I'd do if I fall from such a height. It wouldn't be safe."

He gently picks the mech up, setting him next to Sari, "I have magnetized armor, so you don't need to worry about falling. Just stay still, and you should be just fine."

Sari grins at him, dente flashing - he hadn't even realized how much he missed her enthusiastic smiles before this - and says, "See, dad? It is fine. Sentinel will make sure nothing happens."

Her father shifts on his other shoulder, and replies, "Yes, I see. This is far more comfortable than being strapped to Megatron's chest was. I am not so certain I would be as comfortable if I was not in this armor, though."

Sari giggles, "I don't think the magnetization would really work if you weren't, dad."

Sentinel blinks. Megatron's chest? He isn't sure if he should ask.

Sari presses a kiss to his helmet, "We can't really go out to fuel, since dad can't drink energon or eat any crystals, or I'd suggest doing that. How does touring a crystal garden sound?"

He nods, "I am certainly not the least bit opposed to it. What do you think, Isaac?"

The mech nods, "Sari was telling me how pretty it all is. I'd like to see one."

He carries them to the nearest garden-it takes a full breem to walk there, but it's not that far away. He pays the entry fee for the three of them and steps inside with them still perched on his shoulders. "I don't believe I've taken Sari to this garden before."

She looks around, "I don't remember it." Sari slips off of his shoulder and paces over to a patch of crystals. "These are the kind meant for sparklings to nibble on."

He sets Isaac down, and the mech walks over to her, touching the crystals. "Fascinating." The mech rubs little fingers over one, "How do they taste, Sari?"

She snaps a little off, and eats it. She shrugs, "Kinda sweet, but not that great. Better than sparkling energon, though."

"Anything is better than sparkling energon," Sentinel says softly. "It tastes fine to sparklings, but not to adult bots. Then it is pretty much flavorless and doesn't have the right nutrients."

"Ah. Well, children do tend to prefer their food to be rather bland. Or slightly sweet." Isaac smiles at Sari, "You went through a phase when you were young where you only wanted to eat cereal at every meal. I had a very difficult time convincing you that spaghetti-o's were cereal made out of noodles."

Sari makes a strange face, "I don't remember that."

He shrugs, "You were very young. So very small then." Her father looks up at her, "You're so much taller now."

She laughs softly, "Well, yeah. Of course I am. If I was really young, I would have to be."

Isaac pats her side, "Yes, yes, I know. But you also know what I mean. You're so grown up now." The mech glances over at him, "And going to be married from what Optimus said. You... exchanged crystals?" It is so clear that Isaac doesn't really understand, but is trying to.

He nods, "Yes. It is normally one of the steps to a bonding. It won't be anytime soon, though."

"No?" Isaac looks . . . sorrowful, the corners of his mouth turning down. "Is there any chance that you'll bond while this old man still has a chance of seeing it?"

Sari makes a strange sound, "Dad. Don't. . don't talk like that. Look, I already . . I told you he wants to wait. That it's gonna be a vorn or so. Don't . . don't try to pressure him." She draws her father into her arms and whispers something he can barely hear, "It'll be okay, dad. I know you wanted to see me get married some day, but . . it's not gonna happen. I'm sorry."

Now he feels absolutely terrible. He hadn't actually had it sink in how _short_ an organic's life is. Isaac sounds so _old_, and he was told by Optimus the mech is only sixty stellar cycles old. So young, but older for organics. He doesn't want the mech to never see his daughter get bonded, but he likes waiting a vorn.

But there are times where he has been thinking about breaking that rule just to be with her. He is falling for her hard and fast, and he doesn't know what to do. He felt like this with Elita-1, but there was no feeling of a need to rush with her. While with Sari... it feels like they aren't going fast enough.

Like he'll run out of time before being done.

Isaac smiles at Sari and rubs her back, "Well, an old man can be hopeful, can't he? I've still got plenty of years left in me. Maybe you'll see me break an old-age record and I'll get to see you bond after all." He kisses her cheek, "Now, let's go look at the rest of this garden, hm? I can see some very interesting crystals over there."

He starts wandering over to a patch of-Sentinel blanches-red cora, which is roped off. "No." He tugs Isaac away. "It would be terrible to go look at that."

Isaac looks at him, confused expression plastered on his face, "Is there any reason why?"

He doesn't want to explain this. Not to his femme's creator. it was hard enough explaining it to _her_. Sari steps in to save him, placing a servo on her creator's shoulder, "I don't know if it will work on you, but it is an aphrodisiac for robots, dad. It's just better not to go near it."

Isaac nods, "Oh. Well, what about those?" The mech points at a different set of crystals, these are various types of spiraled ones. "Are those safe to look at?"

"Yes." Sari leads him over, placing a servo on the pedestal in front of the arrangement, and a hologram of the crystals pops up, along with a brief description of them. Her fingers . . . shift into the hacking arrangement for a moment, twitching across the pedestal, and then the description is showing in several languages rather than default Cybertronian. "There. Now you can read about the crystals if you want, dad."

Isaac looks delighted, "Thank you, Sari."

He really wishes she wouldn't hack things like that, but it is better than having to explain what is on the description. The thing is so full of information, it would take forever to read out loud.

Isaac seems happy, though. Looking over the description, and optics lighting up in delight.

Sari moves over to him, reaching up so he'll lean down. When he's level with her, she kisses him gently. "I missed you."

He smiles, spark fluttering happily, "I missed you, too."

"I thought about you while I was gone." She traces a servo over his lips, "Thought about kissing you a lot. And about other things." Her servo rests on his sparkplates. He feels his spark pulse in response, hot under his plating.

"I thought about you as well." Thought about her soft organic frame, and how nice it might feel to press his spark against it some sol.

She kisses him again, fingers touching his face. "We'll have time alone soon. Dad is only visiting for this and next sol. I want him to see everything he can."

He rubs her back, "Perfectly understandable. This will give me time to get to know him." As well as you can know someone in only two sols. It is barely enough time for anything, but he's willing to make the effort.

She kisses him, "Good. I was thinking that, too."

And then he could have time with his femme alone, so he can explore her frame with his fingers, and maybe have her revving a bit for him. It won't lead to anything, but he does enjoy intimate touches and he _really_ likes playing with his femme's armor. Especially her soft skirt armor, which bends in ways that armor really should not.

Her father coughs and smiles at them, "If the lovebirds are done, I'd like to see the 'maze' they have listed on the sign there."

He nods, holding out his servo. "Would you like me to carry you?"

The mech nods, walking over. "That sounds fine." Sentinel scoops them both up, placing them safely on his shoulder, and walks to the maze. Isaac makes an interested sound as they get closer, "How difficult is it to go through it?"

He shrugs cautiously, making sure they don't fall off, "Not too bad. We can get through fairly easily. We can even do the old standby of putting your servo to the left wall and following that."

"No. I'd rather just enjoy it." Isaac smiles and leans back, gazing at the crystal walls. The ones in this maze are a hazy sort of pink color, and it's possible to see a bit through them, which makes for interesting maze navigation, as they catch glimpses of other bots wandering around within the maze. Of course, there are several ladders that can be climbed if a bot is truly lost, to either ask for help or see the correct path out of the maze. They won't need one, though.

He follows their directions, going left or right at their call. When they get to the center after about three breems, he smiles. "And here we are."

It isn't as nice as the Primus altar in the lovers's maze, but it has a nice set of crystals just growing in a lovely pattern. He sets them down, and Sari looks around, "Nice." She walks over to one, touching it, "Is this... ember crystal?"

He looks over at it, "I don't know. It looks like it could be either ember or ice. I'm amazed there isn't any coloring to show which one."

Most ember and ice crystals are chemically tweaked after harvesting them to remove their color. Few are naturally light like these are. It must take remarkable skill to keep them in good condition, especially with so many bots coming to visit at various times of the sol. Sari rubs the crystal a bit harder, and it glows faintly under her touch. They're very reactive crystals when they're still linked to their central group.

She gasps happily, and smiles. "They're lovely."

He nods, "They are." He wants to pick her up and hold her, but realizes that won't be the best idea. She's having fun poking around. Granted, not as much as Isaac seems to be, the mech touching lots of other crystals. And, thankfully, staying away from the roped off corner.

That roped off corner is filled with various crystals that are expensive, but are lovely on display. There are less bots here to touch them, unlike they would be out in the main area. Some bots just don't respect roped off areas.

Sari being one of them-she's slipped over to poke one of those crystals too. It makes an ominous pinging sound and lights start flashing around them. Sentinel sighs, "You set off the alarm."

Sari looks around, "Why is there an alarm on crystals? It's not like I can just pick them up and walk away with them."

"But you could damage them. Or steal a clipping to root in your own garden."

She crosses her arms, "Why is that a bad thing? You'd think they'd _want_ it to grow more. Sure, damaging is bad, but growing more certainly isn't."

He sighs, picking her up, "They need a specialized sort of garden to grow. Clipping it to grow for yourself could easily damage them irreparably. You shouldn't go around touching them like that."

She huffs, "I wasn't going to hurt them."

"You might unintentionally, Sari. It takes a skilled crystal gardener to keep them alive and developing at a normal rate. Especially when they're grown in patches like that with multiple types of crystals."

She huffs again, "Spoilsport. I just wanted to touch them. Crystals like that make my servos tingly sometimes. It's kinda cool."

He gives her an odd look, and takes her servos in his, "Tingly? Like how?"

She makes a face, "You know. Tingly." She wiggles her fingers, "Tingly."

He rubs her little servos, "Good or bad tingly?"

She shrugs, "More of a neutral one? I don't know. It isn't bad."

He kisses her fingers, frowning, "It could be your EM field reacting to them, and it could be bad, even if you don't think so. We may need Ratchet to check on it."

"Ugh. No doctor visits while dad is here." She sticks her glossa out at him. "We can have you panic about nothing later, when he's back home. For now, just chill." Sari lounges against him, head lolling back, "The sky is pretty today, dad. You can see both moons even though it's not dark yet."

Her father looks up and gasps, "Oh, my. That _is_ remarkable."

He knows that earth only had one moon, and it had confused him at first. He's been on other planets, but most had an even number of moons or none at all. It seemed odd to him to only have just the single. He's used to it now, though.

Sari nods, "Yeah, they're really quite pretty. There are moon base one and two. Not very imaginative, but we just call our moon, moon, so that doesn't really matter."

"Do bots live on them?" Isaac asks, his optics wide.

Sentinel frowns, "No. No one lives on the moon bases. They are used for research sometimes, though. There are usually a few bots performing experiments up there." He doesn't think there are more than a dozen right now, though. "And we have a few weaponized defenses on them, in case of attack on Cybertron."

Isaac nods, looking interested, "Fascinating. Do you think I could possibly go to visit them?"

He shakes his head, "I can't even visit them, and I'm second in command of the Autobots. Optimus possibly could, but it is better if he stays on Cybertron. If we arranged it in enough time in advance we could, but even then it is sketchy." And the time in advance would be long after Isaac is offline from old age.

"I bet Percy could get us permission to go for a visit," Sari says enthusiastically. "He owes us for the whole restaurant incident, and for hooking him up with Bee." She pokes at Sentinel's chest. "I wanna go see the moon bases too. I bet Cybertron looks really pretty from them."

He can't resist her when she looks at him like that, with her optics eager and her expression so hopeful. "If Perceptor can find a way for us to go next sol, we can."

She beams at him, "That's great! We'll have to ask him!"

He nods, "I'll send a text to him, and see if he's willing. You go talk to your father, and keep him out of trouble?"

She nods, slipping out of his arms, and heading over. "Can do."

He watches her, sighing softly. He wishes she'd always stay on Cybertron, but understands why she doesn't. He composes the text and sends it off. _/Perceptor, Sari wants to take her Creator to one of the moon bases, do you think you could arrange for that? Possibly through Cosmos?/_

The response comes in less than a klik, _/I would be happy to escort the three of you to Moon Base One. I am overseeing an experiment there and really should visit soon. I can take you with me this trip. Tomorrow./_

Sentinel turns to his femme, who is trying to get her creator away from a batch of fuzzy crystals that explode defensive colored dust if you get too close to them. "Perceptor has offered to take us there tomorrow."

Sari tugs Isaac away with difficulty, "Sounds great."

He nods, sending another text, /_We can do that, then. We'll meet you at your lab in the morning._/ He turns to Sari, picking Isaac up, "Didn't you read the sign? It will explode."

"Well, yes. That's why I was doing that. It sounds so _interesting_."

He shudders, "It is behind the rope so that you don't do that. The dust gets in your joints and is almost impossible to clean out. Not to mention how it damages your cooling systems. If it is really bad, your fans will rust."

"Ah," the mech raises a servo and waggles a finger at him, "but you forget that I am not a bot. If it gets into my armor, I will simply remove it and clean it manually. I am quite good at cleaning robotic systems."

"Then I ask that you not get it in _Sari's_ systems." He carries them both far, far away from the dust crystals. He wants no part in that. Even if Sari finds the colored clouds of dust amusing. Right up until she started overheating when the dust had clogged a major fan. Rusting, offlined Cybertronian shell was a good fertilizer for dust crystals.

He doesn't even know what it would do to an organic, but he imagines it can't be good. Sari told him about lungs and things. How it is harder to replace an organic's internal components than a bot's. He'd hate for a visit here to be the reason Isaac offlined from poor health from something a normal medic would just fix by replacement parts.

But enough worrying for now. He has a femme to fuel and an organic to . . . hm. He wonders what Isaac will be fueling on while he is here. Sentinel doubts that energon or crystals will do.

* * *

><p>Please Review<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Porn cut out in this chapter. Check out my livejournal or tumblr.

Transformers belongs to Hasbro

* * *

><p>Her father is . . very small in his organic mode. Even smaller than Sentinel remembers from his visits to earth, though most of his memories of the planet are clouded in fog. He didn't <em>want<em> to remember most of it, to be honest. Isaac is fueling with Sari, and they're both eating organic fuel that looks very strange.

He is sitting at his table, head resting on it, "You'll be spending the night here, then? How did you manage to convince your team to allow it?"

Sari jerks a thumb at her creator, "Blame him. He told them off for not allowing me to spend nights with you when I got dropped off. Reminding them that I _am_ an adult and can make my own decisions." She lowers her voice, in a mock whisper that is clearly not actually hidden from Isaac, "He wants you to bond with me early, and hopes me spending even more time with you will do it. I told him that I'm not going to make you hurry."

He pets her back, wondering if he should say that he is increasingly tempted to cut it short. After a stellar cycle of waiting to allow it. But... he doesn't think that's a good idea. he doesn't want to get her hopes up, only to dash them when the stellar cycle comes and he thinks he isn't ready. "Thank you," he says instead.

"Don't forget the grandchildren," Isaac says cheerfully, nibbling on a strange yellow thing.

She scowls at him, "We're not havin' kids yet, dad. I don't even know why you think you deserve them. I mean, you never had real kids the hard way. You touched a tiny silver protoform and got zapped. What was the cover story you used again? Something about meeting my mom on a business trip and having me show up at your door in a basket nine months later? Yeah. No one leaves babies in baskets."

Isaac just smiles at her, "I'm certain that some people must."

She glares, "No. If the mom had me, it is likely she would have tried to drain you for every drop you had. Using me as incentive to keep you in line. You were, and still are, rich. And, I'm going to be blunt, you are very easily distracted, dad. It would have been incredibly simple for her to just show up with me in her arms, and demand you take care of us both. When she was firmly settled, she would have done everything she could to drain the accounts dry."

Sentinel tilts his head, "Don't have a very good opinion of the femmes he dates, Sari?"

"I don't like any of the people he's dated. Femmes or mechs. They've all been afts." She looks away, "The only good one offlined in a car accident. I think . . I'm pretty sure she would have been a nice step-mom." She sighs, rubbing a servo . . a hand . . over her hair.

Sentinel reaches down to pet her, letting his fingers tangle in her organic hair cables, which feel so silky soft against his armor. He wonders if his spark would make the tiny cables burn up.

She sighs happily, leaning into his touch, and kisses his fingers. "You're always so gentle with me when I'm like this. It's... nice."

He rubs her back, making sure to stay away from the bits she likes to have him caress in their make out sessions - he has gotten used to the slimy since it means that she is very willing to strip down to her protoform to let him play with her upper frame - and murmurs, "You are just so... fragile looking."

She laughs, like she always does when he says this, "I can survive far more damage than a normal human. You don't need to worry about crushing me just by petting my head."

"But I like being gentle with you." He draws her onto his lap, closer to him, and tips her face up for a kiss. Just a gentle brush of his mouth against hers. No glossa in front of Isaac. It would be terribly inappropriate. "You react so well to my touch."

She stifles a giggle, burying her face against his chest. "Filthy fragger. Don't say things like that. You sound like some awful romance novel rogue."

He rubs her sides, he'd tell her it was true, but she did specify not in front of her creator. "I am no romance novel rogue. They would never tell you to wait and want a meaningful relationship."

She laughs softly, pressing a kiss to his mouth, "Which is why you're so much _better_ than anyone in a romance novel."

He nuzzles her lovingly, "And you're so much smarter than any heroine in a novel like that." He read some of the earth ones, and was so _confused_ when it was only femmes getting in trouble. He also couldn't get past more than half a page of the organic interfacing before being forced to skip it. He doesn't like his 'facing with spikes or valves.

Especially not when they are referenced with such florid, overblown prose. He has to try and remember what a 'blossoming rose' is before he can even begin to try and untangle what just happened in the paragraph he'd read. Or 'turgid staffs.' He does not understand it all.

He gave the paper novel to Perceptor, who had flipped through it idly with a smile on his face. The most visible smile he's ever seen from the bot.

Sentinel doesn't want to speculate why Bumblebee came to work one sol with scraps of metal cloth dangling from his torso.

He picks up her odd food, and places it in front of her, "You should fuel up."

She pokes at it, "I'm not a great fan of canned food. I'm burned out on it from how long I had to suffer through it before you showed me I _could_ drink energon and eat crystals." She kisses him, "You're so sweet for figuring this out for me."

The only reason he can really figure out for why Optimus and his team didn't feed her crystals is because they worried about her being seen as a Decepticon with her dente. At least when she's with him, they know for a fact that she is fine. Especially with his strong anti-Decepticon bias. He can't imagine how badly most bots would take it if he admitted that he originally thought she was a Decepticon that was switching sides. ... and that he had been okay with that.

They wouldn't believe him.

"It isn't all canned, Sari." Her father offers her a strange orange object. "Have an orange."

An orange _what_? He doesn't want to ask what it is and sound like an idiot, so he just watches her remove the orange covering on the object, revealing a softer part inside, which she splits apart and then eats in strange pieces. He wonders why it's full of little parts. Maybe it was designed to be eaten.

She smiles at him, "Nothing quite like scurvy prevention."

He is going to _have_ to ask now. "Scurvy? And how does an ... orange stop it?"

She kisses him, "It is a disease humans get. More than a little gross. Wounds don't heal as fast, and a bunch of other horrible things happen. An orange is filled with vitamin C. That helps fix the problem."

He nods, "Like not having the right minerals, and your armor going brittle?"

She nods, "Like that, yeah."

"Then I am glad you have your orange." He touches her hair again, playing with the wires. The first time a few had broken, he'd been horribly upset by it, but she'd told him that they were all essentially nonconductive, dead wires, and he likes touching them now, even if he does usually snap a few by accident.

He likes brushing it for her after they make out, before she armors up. He likes to think it makes her Cybertronian headfins more perky and sensitive.

She kisses him softly, leaving a small wet lip-print on his mouth from the orange. "I kinda wish you could have some, but I bet you'd get sick. You aren't really made to eat these things."

He nods, "Indeed. I'm not like Botanica, and don't have a special mod for it. She's the only bot I know of that has that, though."

Sari hums thoughtfully, "Would it taste the same to me and you if you did?"

He shrugs, "Possibly? I don't know these things. Can you eat it when you're armored up?"

"I can, yeah, but it's weird. It doesn't really have much of a taste. I can still tell it's whatever it's supposed to be, but it's like . . muted. I don't really know how to describe it, I guess." She lies against him. "I'm a bit tired. I want to recharge in your berth tonight."

He flushes. "No." Not while her creator is staying over. That's just . . . inappropriate in every way possible. "I'll pull out a fold-out berth for myself, and then you can recharge in my berth if you like."

She sighs softly, shaking her head, "I'll recharge on the couch again, then."

Isaac frowns at them, "Let her recharge with you. It will not hurt you to have her there. She wants to, and I know you do want her to."

He blushes, high on his cheekarches, "No, I couldn't-"

Isaac wags a finger at him, "You will not do anything other than recharge. It will not hurt you to do this. She missed you, and this will help." A smile creeps onto his face, "Of course, if you two wanted to work on creating some little 'grandsparklings,' don't think I would protest."

Sari flushes and slaps his shoulder, "Dad!"

Isaac arches an organic optic ridge, "Don't take that tone, Sari. You know I want to see you with a family some day. If you start now, you'll appreciate it later. Children bring such joy to your life." He smiles at her sweetly, "I know you brought much happiness to mine."

She rubs her optics - eyes - and sighs, "No. I told you I'm not pushing him. He doesn't-"

He presses a kiss to her head, "If you ... really want to, we can share the berth." He recognizes that glint in Isaac's eyes, that's the same as his creators' when they were _going_ to get their way, no matter how well he argued against them.

He is certain that Isaac will push and push until they give in. At least like this he doesn't have to worry about her trying to open him up.

"Fine," she huffs, arms crossed, expression indignant, "but I'm not forgiving you for being a jerk about this, dad. If Sentinel breaks up with me because of this, it's your fault."

Isaac only smiles, and then yawns theatrically, "Oh, my. Look at the time, Sari. I am terribly tired. Will you help me set up my bed on the couch? I would like to get extra sleep tonight. I imagine our outing tomorrow will be rather strenuous."

She glares at him, and Sentinel carefully sets her on the floor, moving Isaac to join her. He kisses the top of her head, "I'm not going to break up with you for this." He may end up breaking his vorn rule for her because of it, but that is more of a... guideline, anyway. He mainly wants a femme willing to respect his boundaries, and Sari has already proved repeatedly that she does.

He thinks he loves her.

It's really too early to tell.

"Good. I wouldn't let you break up with me anyways. I'd break up with you first." She pokes his headlights, "Now, you go off and clean up or something. I'm gonna set up dad's bed. I know how to get the couch the comfiest." She shoos him away, and Sentinel goes, slipping into his washrack to scrub himself clean. She likes laying on him when he's nice and polished, free of grit and grime.

When he comes out, the couch is set up just how she likes, and Isaac is laying on it comfortably. The mech smiles at him, "You certainly are shiny." Isaac waves both hands in a shooing motion at him and Sari. "You two go sleep. I'm sure you'll be happier for it."

He wishes the mech wouldn't try to pressure him like this. He's glad that Sari is so patient with him, even if his waiting period would have had her offline from old age if she wasn't techno-organic. She's just so wonderful to him.

They slip away into his berthroom. He's shared a berth with Sari before, but . . . it's still a terrible idea. He is so weak for her. Sentinel lays on his berth, "Do you want to-" he was going to ask her preference for a side, but she settles herself right on top of his chest, cutting his question short.

Sentinel shifts uncomfortably, feeling her spark heat through her plating.

She reaches up, touching his headfins, and he has to move her servo down. "No, Sari."

She gives him a disappointed look that is gone in an instant, and she kisses him. "Not even making out? I'd like to-"

He shakes his head, rubbing her back, "Do _you_ want to walk past your father to go into the washrack to self-service?"

She shudders, knowing that's normally what one of them does if they get too heated, "No."

"We'll just recharge tonight." He rests a servo on her back, and feels her snuggle against his plating. He loves having her against him. When they're finally together, it's going to be amazing. "And next sol, we can visit Moon Base One." He hopes Perceptor's experiment, whatever it is, is something benign. It's hard to tell with the sciencebot sometimes.

Sari huffs against him, "I guess so. I want to make out."

He shakes his head, "Another time. We can when your father goes home."

She pouts at him, "I want to do it now." She kisses him, "But I understand." She rubs his servo, holding it lovingly, "I don't want to rush you.'

He wants to rush, but needs to hold himself in check. He didn't have this problem with Elita, but Elita wasn't with him even an eighth as much as Sari is. She's with him constantly, and when she isn't, he feels the loss and ache of her not being there.

He just hopes _he_ can hold out.

* * *

><p>They take a shuttle to the moon base, and Sari practically vibrates with enthusiasm the entire time. "Oh, Primus, this is awesome. I'm visiting a moon. We're visiting a moon, dad. A foreign moon. And there aren't any Decepticon ships on this one, even."<p>

Sentinel catches her on her next manic pass and tugs her onto his lap, stroking her frame to calm her down. She'd onlined that morning with a hot frame, spark pulsing hard in her chest, and it had been hard to turn her down when she'd kissed his plates. But he had.

He rubs her sides, "Yes, we're going to Moon Base One. It really isn't half as exciting as you think it is. The only reason it is slightly interesting is because Perceptor will be doing an experiment on it." He looks over at the truckbot, "What is it you're working on, anyway?"

The mech glances over at him, then returns to his datapad, "A simple fusion experiment. Completely harmless."

That immediately sets him on edge, because the only time Perceptor feels the need to clarify that something is 'completely harmless' is when it is absolutely _not_ and has a high chance of blowing up in their faces. For instance, he often refers to Wheeljack as a 'rather cuddly, harmless mech.'

Harmless is a word that Perceptor's highly advanced processor seems to have mixed up with 'dangerous as slag, avoid at all costs.'

But perhaps this _one time_ he actually means it.

But it's unlikely.

"How much will be blowing up?" He gives the bot a suspicious look, "If it is that bad, we'll keep out of your way as you do this."

"I told you, completely harmless." The bot flicks a finger at them, "As long as Sari and Isaac stay armored up, they will be perfectly safe."

He still doesn't like the sound of that.

"How thick of an armored wall do they need to stand behind? And why did you specify _them_?"

He's given a blank look, "It is perfectly safe."

So, it was a bad idea for them to be in the same room as the device. Or whatever Perceptor was using. No wonder it had been placed on the Moon Base and not on Cybertron proper. "Mm-hm. Like your Plasma-beam was perfectly safe?"

Perceptor tips his helm to one side minutely, "There was no way to know that it would explode in the presence of light particles."

"You exposed it to sunlight and it took out half of the Magnus's garden."

Percy raises an optic ridge, "You are the one that wanted it tested. We showed it to you, and explained how it would work. It is not our fault you removed the cover."

He glares, holding Sari tightly, "You're the one that _told_ me to remove the cover. I'm lucky it didn't blow my servos off."

Perceptor looks back at his datapad, "The cover was meant to keep anything dangerous-"

"It was the only thing that kept me from being offlined, you mean. I'm not going to let you test that thing with Isaac and Sari anywhere near it."

"It is not undergoing tests this sol. We are going to bombard it with a few energy waves and then expose it to a few minerals to make sure it fuses things properly. It has been thoroughly tested already and has shown absolutely no dangerous properties, Sentinel Prime." Perceptor scribbles something on the pad. "It will not explode. Even if Wheeljack was here, it would not explode."

He watches the sciencebot suspiciously, "I will withhold judgment until I see it."

The truckbot doesn't even look up, "It is perfectly safe. Nothing we do will be the least bit dangerous."

He cuddles Sari close, and she kisses him softly. He rubs her back as he says, "Somehow, I don't believe you." He knows this will all end up with them completely scrapped. He promised to keep Sari safe, and he doesn't know how to do that if this fragger of a sciencebot does something dangerous.

Sari pats his side, "I'm sure it's safe. Optimus approved this trip, and he wouldn't if he thought it was dangerous for us."

But Optimus is freakishly optimistic and would believe the sciencebot's claims. The bot has no idea how dangerous the sciencebots can get if you give them free reign. They seem to lack common sense. Those overpowered processors made them forget basic things.

Like the fact that explosions were bad.

He sighs softly, holding Sari tightly as they go through space, and watches Isaac stare out the window in awe. He does find it amusing that the bot is so utterly fascinated by it all. Sari told him that her creator's passion _is_ astronomy, rather than robotics.

He wishes the mech could meet Cosmos or something, but that bot is terrified of organics. He doesn't know how well Isaac and him would get along, even if he knows Isaac would love Cosmos.

They touch down on Moon Base One without any trouble, and exit the shuttle, swiping their servos over the scanner there to allow them access to the base. It makes an odd beeping sound when Isaac does the same, but it lets them all onto the planet. Isaac stares at everything with wide, awed optics. "Oh. It's fascinating up here. I'm so glad I got a chance to see this." The mech's smile is painfully bright, and it saddens Sentinel again, remembering how short a life this mech has before he will offline.

Sari kisses him, "I'm glad we could do this on such short notice. Optimus said that normally we'd have to wait a decavorn."

He nods, "Or even longer. Most bots just don't bother, since it is easier just to go to another planet, and faster as well." He pets her side, "I would happily take you and your creator on my ship to fly around for a bit. As long as I know in advance. I want to clear out time so I can just... be with you." Spend forever next to her.

She blushes a bit and kisses his cheek again, "Charmer," she murmurs in his audio. "You're so sweet to me." They make their slow way across the surface of the moon, until they reach the building that Perceptor's experiment is apparently housed in. It's a large building, with heavily reinforced walls. At least whoever initially authorized this experiment was aware of Perceptor's dangerous capabilities, because this lab is actually equipped to handle his potential damage.

He looks at the lab, and carefully picks Isaac up before the mech can touch anything. "I think... we're going to tour the place alone. You can all do this, and com us when you're finished."

Isaac gives him an irritated look, "I wanted to watch this."

"I can assure you that you do not. It could offline you, and Perceptor will just look confused as to why it didn't work _this_ time when his modifications were surely perfect. The bot ignores that it happened all the previous times he fixed the problem then, as well."

"No. I can tell that there's no risk of me dying from it. You forget that I am also a scientist, Sentinel Prime. This is a fusion device. The worst it could do to me is fuse a bit of mineral to the outside of this armor suit. I will be fine." He tries to wiggle out of Sentinel's arms, but the mech not let him. He doesn't want Sari to lose her creator this way.

"I think not." Sentinel carries him out.

Sari kisses him, then hugs her creator. "It really is better to stay away, dad. Perceptor can be incredibly dangerous. He could kill us so easily and not even realize what he was doing. Bee says that he's incredibly focused on what he's doing, but tunes everything else out. That is bad if we're the 'everything else.'"

Isaac frowns, "I will be just fine. You will put me down at once." "I'll put you down when we're out of his range." He walks them further away from Perceptor's madness, and finally places them down in front of a window with an excellent view of the sky and of Cybertron. "There. Now he cannot harm the two bots most important in my life right now."

Sari nuzzles him affectionately. "You're sweet." She turns to her creator, "I know you think it's not necessary, but he really is dangerous. It's best for us to stay away from him while he's working. We can take a look after he's done with the tests, right before we leave, okay?"

Isaac huffs, "I don't see how it can be dangerous. He said we'd be fine as long as we're in our armor. I am sure that it won't hurt me to look and watch."

She glances up at Sentinel, and he sends her a hopeless and sort of confused look, making her sigh. "Well, dad. I had thought you wanted to explore the moon. Don't you want to do that?"

Isaac pauses, then nods. "That is very true. I will do that instead. I would still like to see what Perceptor is working on, but it is not every day that you can just walk on a moon.

On some planets, with small transwarp gates on location, you _could_ go and walk on a moon every sol. But that's not the point.

Sentinel would act as their guide, but he's never been on Moon Base One either. So they wander it together, following a few poorly designed maps that have been placed sporadically on the walls of the building. When they're outside, it's easier, because the open space and roads are built for ease of travel, while the twisting corridors of a sciencebot's madhouse are not.

Isaac gasps in wonder, looking around. "I had never thought I would be able to do this sort of thing. Yes, it is not earth's moon, but... just being out in outer space is amazing. I visited another planet, and now I am walking on one of its moons." The mech looks around, optics wide, "Amazing."

It seems that it just sunk in for the mech. That's nice. It may mean that he's distracted from-

"But I still want to see what Perceptor is working on. It just seems so fascinating."

Of course he does.

Why would Sari's creator be anything less than frustrating and stubborn, just like his daughter?

Sentinel sighs, "In a megacycle or two, we can go back and see if he's done." The bot's experiments were usually rather short. They should be done in time for them to get a relatively safe look at them. Relative being the operative word, of course. Nothing the mech did was entirely safe. Ever.

They spend the rest of the time wandering around, looking at various things. After a megacycle and a half, Isaac twitches like an excited sparkling, "I want to see how the experiment is going."

He would like to draw it out for longer, but he realizes that Perceptor is entirely likely to be finished, and most likely has been for the last breem or two. He sighs softly, and nods, "If that is what you want, then we can go see."

Isaac looks excited, and rushes in the direction where they left Perceptor. Sari sighs, looking up at him tiredly, "I was hoping he wouldn't keep insisting, but when he gets an idea in his head, there's little to dissuade him."

He scoops his femme up, because he likes the weight of her in his arms, and carries her inside, following after Isaac. "This is going to end in disaster."

Sari pokes him, "Don't be so negative. There's like, a good five-percent chance that it'll not be a disaster with Perceptor involved. I mean, Wheeljack's not even here right now, so that drops his danger quotient considerably. Of course, if we'd thought to bring Red Alert along, then he really would be harmless."

"I just wish he hadn't _said_ it was harmless. That ups the danger quite a bit. I expect it to blow up in our face and everything terrible happens. I just hope we don't go into lockdown up here because of it. I don't know how well that will work out."

She leans against him, sighing softly, "I have all the food that we brought in my subspace, so dad won't starve. But I genuinely don't know anything else about here. It doesn't seem like it will be too dangerous to stay. I mean, you have _breathable atmosphere_ here. That's fragging insane."

"Ah. That. Yes, that's a recent addition. We had many organic visitors and . . . even though most bots find them distasteful, the atmosphere made treaties easier to handle." He had been one of the most vocal protestors for the addition back then, but he's glad now that it went ahead over his complaints.

"Cool." Sari kisses his cheek. "I'm glad you did it. Makes it easier for me and dad."

He kisses her softly, "I'm glad it is here, too." He rubs her sides, "Did I tell you how lovely you look this sol?"

She laughs softly, "You're the one that polished me up after combing my hair and everything else. I'm going to have to say that the only reason I look this good is because of you." She kisses him, teasing at his headfins, "You're the one that did it, and even if you hadn't, you would say I was the prettiest femme ever. You flatterer."

He smiles, "But it isn't flattery when I'm just telling the truth."

"You're such a charmer," she starts, kissing his cheek, and then they're both interrupted by a scream.

A very familiar scream.

Sari blanches and clutches at him, "Dad!"

Sentinel races towards the lab, knowing that he'll be too late when he gets there, and her father is offline now, and-

When they get in the lab, Isaac looks . . . fine. He's leaning against the device, panting heavily, but he doesn't appear to be injured. Just... tired.

Isaac sits heavily on the floor, still panting. "I feel... odd."

Sentinel glares over at Perceptor, "What the frag happened?"

"He came in just as we were putting things away, and then there was an odd flash of light as the machine accidentally went off, hitting him." The bot gives him a blank look, "I told you it wouldn't hurt him as long as he was armored up. He is not damaged."

Sentinel picks Isaac up carefully, and walks over to Perceptor, "You will run a scan on him this instant." He isn't sure if it will work on a human, but he's not going to ignore it just because it _may_ not work. For all he knows Perceptor can fix anything that possibly may be wrong.

"Very well." Perceptor swipes a datapad over his frame and shows Sentinel the results. "See? There is no damage. He is a healthy techno-organic, just like his daughter. Perhaps a bit on the young side, but not all techno-organics age the same way. Still, he has a minimum of several decavorns left, even if he continues to age at the rate the scans show."

Sentinel's spark freezes. "Isaac is not a techno-organic."

Perceptor gives him a blank look that somehow portrays skepticism, and says, "Yes, he is. His daughter is a techno-organic, and so is-"

He rubs his optics, interrupting, "Organic. What did you _do_ to him?"

Perceptor looks as confused as he ever does, "I told you, nothing ha-"

"You ... you turned him techno-organic." He looks at Isaac, "We... we need to check how healthy he is because of this." Oh Primus, if this is true, they are going to get so many organics demanding they change them. It will expand an organics depressingly short lifespan to a normal bot one. He isn't sure how they can handle this.

Perceptor prods the machine with a slight frown, and then scans Isaac again. "Ah. I see the problem. You did not think to warn me that this mech was inundated with Allspark energy. I believe it had a negative reaction with my device. He appears quite healthy, though."

"I'll let a qualified medicbot prove that," Sentinel interrupts. "We are going back to Cybertron now. Red Alert and Ratchet will want to scan him."

Isaac, for his part, mostly looks dazed. "I . . techno-organic? Really?"

Sentinel sighs softly, "It seems so, yes. We'll have you checked out and you can see how it turns out. Sari is going to have to teach you how to properly function." He pauses, curious about something, "Could you smile for me?"

Isaac gives him an odd look, "Why?"

"I want to check something."

The mech shrugs, and smiles, dente flashing. "There. What is it?"

He nods, "Well, there we go. You have gear dente, just like Sari. I'm sure you're excited to try out all the brand new foods you can eat."

"I feel different." Isaac reaches down and touches his chest, right over his sparkplates. "There's . . hm. This must be a spark that I feel? How strange." Sentinel offlines his optics as the mech's sparkplates suddenly click and slide open. "Ah. Yes. It does appear to be a spark. How odd."

Sari makes a strangled noise, "Dad. . . close back up. You're doing the robot equivalent of flashing your junk at everyone."

Isaac frowns, but closes, "Fine. I still do not know why you are freaking out about this." The mech points at him, "Now I will live long enough to see you bond with my daughter. I expect grandsparklings."

Sentinel sighs softly, "I am planning on that, yes. Just realize it takes a long time to sync a spark up to another's. Supposedly, what Optimus is doing will promise more sparklings and sooner, that's why the original courting was that way, but I don't know if it will actually happen. The Allspark is fickle, and likes to change things randomly."

Sari leans against him, rubbing his chest, just above his sparkplates, "We'll have sparklings eventually."

"I certainly hope so."

* * *

><p>The verdict is rather good, all things considered. Isaac is healthy, or as healthy as any techno-organic gets, considering that his lifespan is still going to be considerably shorter than Sari's. Sari seems to be a special kind of techno-organic. He doesn't really want to speculate on why.<p>

He's just happy she is.

He kisses her head, rubbing her sides, "You going to show him how to transform?" She nods, "Yeah. He'll need all the help he can get." She kisses him, rubbing his helm, "I ... I may need to go back to earth in a few months, though. And stay there for a stellar cycle."

His spark freezes. "Why is that?"

"Because I'll need to help dad with the business and teach him how to do more with what he has in his frame. From what it looked like, he has odd weaponry installed, and I need to teach him how to do things without hurting himself. We can wait until after our one stellar cycle anniversary, but then I should go."

"Oh." Sentinel wonders if this is what his femmes had felt like, when he began breaking up with them. Distancing himself from them. He wonders idly what he's done to upset Sari so much that she wants to leave him now. Surely Isaac could stay here a stellar cycle or two to learn those things.

But she wants to go to earth, knowing that he cannot come with her.

"I won't be gone more than a stellar cycle. I promise."

He wonders how he became so very easy to read for her. How she just... knows how upset he is at the very idea of her leaving him. Even if it is decacycles away.

He kisses her, "Okay." He holds her in his arms, feeling terrible at the idea of her leaving him.

She rubs his side, kissing him again. "I know that... that you lived longer than me, and are probably going to say it is too soon to say this, since I'm just a silly techno-organic with no sense of time. But I... I just want you to know that I love you."

He can't say the same to her yet. But . . . soon. Soon, he thinks he will be able to.

She sighs, lying against him, "I don't want to leave you, Sentinel. I'm not . . good with people on earth. And I don't want to be gone a year. It's so long." She sighs more dramatically and leans back like one of the women on her romance novel covers, "However will I last without you, my noble knight?"

He laughs softly, kissing her gently, "You will survive like I know you can." He rubs her sides, playing with her armor, "But I think you should read the romance novels that the bots have written. With the heroic femme, and the mechs she saves."

She shrugs, "Maybe." She tugs him down into a kiss, "But we'll com each other every night?"

He rubs her headfins, "We'll try to. It is a great deal of decacycles away, and we can plan out more thoroughly later."

He doesn't want to think of her being gone from his side. It's painful.

* * *

><p>She's leaving the next morning. For a full stellar cycle away from him, on earth. Sari will call him every other decacycle, but it's not the same. Not even a little bit. Sentinel has been thinking about requesting time off-but with the delegates coming this stellar, he won't get more than a single sol of leave at any time.<p>

They're both laying on the berth in the dark, pretending to be in recharge, aware that neither of them actually is. Sentinel focuses on the warmth of her frame, and the soft, heated ventilations that wash over his plating.

He knows that he loves her now, his spark thrums with happiness when she is near. He had never even _realized_ that he could fall as hard and fast for someone, but it seems like Sari just shows him how easy it is. It took less time for him to love her than it took for him to find out her _designation_ for Primus's sake. He doesn't even know what to think about this.

It has been about three decacycles since the anniversary of their first date together, and all he can think about is how she is going to leave him soon. If it had been Elita doing this, he knows he would have been just fine with it. With her going away for a stellar cycle. How he would have thought that was no time at all, and could have done it instantly.

How he _had_ done that with Elita.

But with Sari... it feels like he's going to lose her forever and a sol. Even though he knows for a fact that she will be back at his side as soon as possible, and never even look at another in any way to replace him.

He would have worried about that with Elita, but can't even think of that as possible with Sari. She... she just isn't that type of femme. She wants him and only him. Just like how he only wants to be with her.

So he slides his servo up along her back, and gazes into her suddenly online optics. "I am going to miss you," he says softly, afraid of breaking the silence and making her imminent departure even more prominent in his processor.

"I'll miss you too," she whispers, kissing his chest, sprawled on top of him. "But it's only gonna be a year."

Sentinel lets his servo slip between them, and he gently rubs at her sparkplates. "Much has changed since our first date."

She turns her head, blushing prettily, "Don't... don't tease me like this. You know how much I want to, but you say no. Don't dangle it in front of me, only to pull-"

He rubs just a tiny bit harder, feeling her spark heat, "Not teasing you. I want it too. The vorn is a guideline, and I know you'll return to me. You have shown that you want to be with me and are willing to wait. We've gone out on dates pretty much every single sol, even if that date was just sitting in my office to fuel." He unlocks under her, knowing she can feel how hot his spark is, "I would like to do this with you."

She bites her lower lip, her lovely gear dente holding it in place for a long moment. "I..." Her optics flutter, "Yes. You know I have been trying to convince you how ready I am. I love you. I had just thought you wanted more time."

"I don't need more time now."

* * *

><p>Please Review<p>

And that's the end, everyone. I don't know if I'll be updating tomorrow or not. If I'm not, I'm posting a snippet of what we're working on in my livejournal. I put _something_ up every day. You can just check that out if you want to.

Oh, and the porn in this chapter is there. Like I said, this _was_ for the kinkmeme


End file.
